Coffee and an Audio Book
by Windstrider97
Summary: Barista Elsa and deaf Anna have a chance meeting at a Starbucks coffee shop and the two want to get to know each other. Purely Elsanna fluff...and maybe a little more ;) Modern AU.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yeaah...I've kinda been away a while. Ever since school started up again I've found myself swamped with homework and stuff so it was hard to balance that and finding time to write. I also had something very big happen to me recently that kind of set everything back a few days but I got it done for all of you though. I cranked out a new story for you all and I hope you all enjoy. ~Windstrider**

"Good morning! What would you like to drink?"

Elsa, the barista at the Starbucks near the local mall, smiled and politely greeted everyone she met with the same smile, and same tone of voice. She filled out orders and obediently made them according to her customer's order like any good barista should. Although she put on the same face for everyone that came into the coffee place, when she saw a certain girl walk through the door and get in line for the third time that week, Elsa's smile was genuine. Elsa made eye contact with the girl in the line every once in a while as the line of customers moved along. The redheaded woman, who had her hair pulled back into a loose pony tail, waved excitedly to her, pushing up her thin rimmed glasses and tucking some stray strands of hair behind her right ear. The line shifted, and soon the beautiful redheaded woman approached Elsa. Smiling warmly, Elsa said, "Good morning, again, Anna! And what would you like today?" The woman on the other side of the counter said nothing, paused, then began to fumble around in her purse for something. Elsa, already knowing what she was searching for waited patiently, smiling at the beautiful teal eyed woman. Anna pulled out a small notepad and a pen, took a few moments to jot something down hastily, then rip it lightly off the pad and hand it to Elsa. The barista took a moment to read the woman's order then smiled and said, "White chocolate mocha with extra froth? No problem!"

Anna paused and smiled, tilting her head slightly, giving of a slight indication that she didn't quite hear what Elsa had said, even though her voice resonated throughout the room.

Ever since the pretty redhead had entered the coffee shop two days ago, Elsa noticed that she would sit for the longest time at the booth by the window across the room and watch Elsa work. She would look away shyly when Elsa caught her eye, and she would rest her cheek on her hand in the cutest way. She also, often chose to read a book.

Since Anna's second day of coming to the shop, Elsa had debated whether or not she should join the strangely silent girl and see if she could strike up some conversation. The girl looked like she wanted to get to know Elsa, but had settled for watching from afar.

Elsa made Anna's order to the best of her ability and walked up to the counter, leaning over it to look at the woman's face carefully, noticing the sprinkling of freckles across her nose and cheeks and how her teal eyes sparkled upon being in such close p3roximity to the person she admired.

"Here you are, then." Elsa said, "Have an awesome day, cutie." Then she winked and Anna blushed while taking her coffee, making sure their fingers brushed at the exchange. Anna then turned sharply and rushed over to the other side of the room where she sat down at her usual booth by the window and pulled out her book.

Elsa hoped that Anna would stay long enough for her to get off of work, then she would most definitely introduce herself and see if she could get to know the pretty girl who always ordered a white chocolate mocha. The barista noticed that Anna was reading _The Book Thief_ and Elsa tilted her head, observing the cover. She was soon distracted by the way Anna's expressions fluctuated according to the happenings in the story. First the redhead smiled, then her smile froze and her eyes scanned the page for a few lines before her face fell and she frowned.

Elsa was a reader herself and had been putting off her hobbies, due to her responsibilities at home. Between her work and caring for her little brother Olaf, she barely had any time to herself for reading. Elsa, between orders, cast a glance at the clock. She had one more hour to go until her shift ended. Elsa turned back to the counter and caught Anna sneakily stealing a gaze from the other side of the room. Most times, Elsa pretended not to notice Anna watching her, but this time she waved and smiled. Anna jumped a bit, surprised she had been seen, then buried her nose back into her book where she remained for about fifteen minutes, thumbing through a few pages as she read. A few moments later, she stole another glance at Elsa who was ready this time. The barista, as soon as she caught sight of the gorgeous green eyes of Anna, leaned on the side of the counter and stuck her tongue out, playfully giving a small raspberry.

Anna, delighted by this, lifted her hand to her face, pushing her glasses up her nose and giggling. Elsa, wishing she could've heard the sound, grew slightly more impatient for her shift to be over. It was almost nearing the lunchtime rush and Elsa tapped her fingers on the table, praying to be relieved of her duties. Anna was known to leave at around noon and Elsa prayed silently that the woman would remain where she was for at least another twenty minutes. Maybe, Elsa thought, if Anna cast her more glances, she could make funny faces and get her to stay longer.

Sure enough, for the third time, Anna turned her head slightly to look at Elsa out of the corner of her eye. This time Elsa smiled and wiggled her eyebrows. Anna turned her head fully and did the same. Elsa chuckled and wiggled her ears. So did Anna. Elsa had to take another order, but was smiling at the cute girl the whole time.

Anna, sitting on her own, reading her book in the sunlight of the morning with the taste of coffee on her tongue and the sight of the gorgeous barista there to gaze at, Anna couldn't help but come to the coffee shop. The store had such a nice atmosphere about it, and the woman at the counter made Anna's coffee just the way she liked it. Anna had developed a crush on the barista since day one and two days later, there she was, shamelessly watching a woman she knew would never be in a relationship with. When Anna looked up again, the gorgeous barista was gone, replaced by a middle aged man with glasses.

Anna, staring in disappointment, closed her book and stood. She gathered her things together on the tabletop and placed her book in her backpack, pulling out her cell phone to check the time. As she was heading for the door, Elsa emerged from the back and saw her leaving and immediately began to call her name. When the woman didn't respond, Elsa quickened her pace and called a bit louder.

"H-hey! Hey, Anna!"

The barista had learned Anna's name when she had written it down for her on paper when Elsa asked for it the first day they met. Elsa had always thought Anna was a beautiful name and fitting for a woman like her.

"Anna?" As Elsa approached the girl, she began to wonder why she wasn't responding to her calls. She didn't have headphones on listening to music…maybe she just wasn't paying attention? Elsa reached forward and placed a hand on Anna's shoulder, startling the redhead, making her jump and whirl around in surprise.

"Hey!" Elsa giggled, meeting Anna's startled gaze with a smile, "It's just me!"

Anna's shoulders relaxed and she smiled brightly in reply, giving a little wave.

"I'm glad I caught you." Elsa continued, rubbing the back of her head, ruffling her mane of hair, "Were you just about to leave or do you have a few minutes to chill?" Elsa took notice of how hard Anna was staring at her mouth as she spoke. The woman with thick rimmed glasses took a few moments to think, then nodded her head with a smile. Elsa held out her hand for the woman to take and excitedly ushered her back to Anna's favorite seat near the window. As the pair sat down, Anna pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose again, a nervous habit. The barista was determined to make a relationship out of this chance meeting and so she thought for a moment, leaned forward and said in a hesitant voice,

"So…um…" Elsa folded her hands on the table, "Anna is it?"

She nodded.

"I have to say, that's a beautiful name!"

Anna smiled warmly.

"By the way," Elsa began again, feeling as if the conversation was going nowhere, "I see you like to read. What type of books to you like the most?"

Anna simply smiled admiringly at Elsa and the awkward barista bit her lip, thrumming her fingers against the tabletop. Elsa found it a bit unnerving that all Anna was doing was looking at her directly with a smile on her face, not responding to the obvious question that had been asked.

"Umm…can you hear me?" Elsa asked awkwardly, shifting in her seat. To Elsa's surprise, Anna's face fell and the barista watched nervously as Anna reached into her bag, pulled out her notepad and wrote something down, then slid it over the table and turned it so Elsa could see. The blonde looked at Anna for a moment, pressing her lips together before letting her eyes fall to the notepad that contained Anna's note, written in beautiful, loopy handwriting.

"No, I can't hear you," Anna had written, "I'm deaf. But I've gotten pretty good at reading lips."

Elsa's eyes widened slightly and she shifted in her seat, beginning to stutter out a nervous apology. Despite Elsa's good intentions, she only succeeded in making the situation seem worse than before for she knew that Anna couldn't hear a word of what was she was saying. Yet, she stuttered away while Anna looked on, smiling affectionately. The redhead took the notepad and wrote something down again for Elsa.

The blonde slowly quieted herself and trailed off, biting her tongue, waiting for Anna to finish.

Anna turned the paper over to Elsa and it read:

"I get that reaction a lot, but it's okay. Aside from that, I'm so happy to finally meet you! As you know, my name is Anna and I'm glad you like it because I think it's a bit on the boring side. What's your name?"

Anna handed Elsa the pen and with a nervous smile, Elsa began to write her reply. Anna waited patiently, liking how Elsa would pause every few words to think about what she was going to write next. When Elsa finally finished and handed the notepad back to its owner, Anna excitedly grabbed it and brought it close to her face. her expressive teal eyes eagerly scanning the page. Elsa grinned.

Anna read, "My name is Elsa and it's awesome to meet you too. You know, I've never had to write like this to communicate before."

Anna stopped, giggled, then kept reading.

"But be that as it may, it's still really cool to finally talk to you. How's the coffee? Did I get the froth the way you like it?"

Anna nodded enthusiastically and took a sip of her coffee for emphasis, making Elsa chuckle a little. Anna loved the way Elsa looked when she laughed. Her shoulders bounced a bit and her smile was gorgeous. Anna grabbed the notepad and began to jot something down in reply. Elsa found herself enjoying the redhead's company. Despite the fact she couldn't hear anything, she seemed like a genuinely happy person with a comfortable atmosphere about her. Not a thing about her was awkward or unpleasant for Elsa and the blonde found herself anticipating what Anna would write next.

Anna turned the page over and Elsa read: "Your coffee is always the best! I've been to other Starbucks places before but no one makes my white chocolate mocha like you!"

Elsa wrote back: "I'm glad you like it! I've only just started working here to sustain me and my brother on what little money we can make."

"You have a brother?" Anna wrote in reply, "How old?"

"He's 9." Elsa said aloud, but then shook her head and remembered she needed to write it down.

Elsa watched as Anna read her note, then looked up and smiled softly. Elsa read Anna's emotions as clear as a crystal through those wide, teal eyes and her lips pulled into a grin. Anna then wrote to Elsa: "I've always wanted a brother."

Elsa shook her head and Anna chuckled silently. Elsa could tell by the way Anna's shoulders bounced a bit as she giggled. Happy that she could make Anna laugh, Elsa took the notepad and began to furiously scribble: "My brother, Olaf, is quiet and well behaved in public but at home I'm completely comfortable with saying he's an adorable little monster child!"

Anna read her note giggling again, lifting her shoulders. Elsa looked at Anna's eyes and Anna looked at hers. Anna loved the clear blue of the barista's irises. They were a calm, gentle blue with just a hint of green…

Suddenly a loud vibration came from Anna's jeans pocket and the redhead shifted slightly to reach down to pull out her phone. She pushed her glasses up on her nose using her pointer finger and frowned at the text she had received.

"What?" Elsa asked aloud.

Anna lifted her head to look at Elsa once more and she mouthed the words: "I need to go."

The look of disappointment that crossed the barista's face made Anna feel horrible. The redhead, not wanting to make her new friend sad, reached forward and grabbed Elsa's hand. The soft, warm contact made Elsa pause and straighten significantly in her seat. Anna hastily grabbed a pen from her purse and reached down, beginning to write a series of numbers on Elsa's palm. When she finished, the flustered barista grinned and sat back in her seat reading over the series of numbers scribbled on the heel of her hand. Anna then began to gather her things for a second time and, casting apologetic glances at the barista, stood.

Elsa said aloud, "It's okay, Anna."

And Anna smiled brightly before rushing from the store, leaving Elsa with a phone number and a wonderful feeling in her chest.

Anna, delighted that the person she admired had stopped and talked to her, rushed out of the door, not wanting to look back and see the adorable puppy eyes she knew the platinum blonde was giving her. If Anna turned and looked into those blue eyes once more, she doubted she'd be able to resist leaving her. She walked out into the parking lot and tapped her foot, waiting patiently for her favorite cousin to drive up in her white mustang. If Anna was capable of hearing things, a few moments after she had exited the store, she would've heard a high pitched squeal of rubber against road. Anna's cousin's white mustang zipped down the parking lot towards Anna and slowed down right in front of her. The window of the driver's seat rolled down and Rapunzel stuck her head out and waved enthusiastically for Anna to get in.

The woman smiled and slid into the passenger's side where she buckled her seat belt and pushed up her glasses. In sign language, Anna's cousin, Rapunzel, greeted her: "Hello, Anna! Did you have a nice time in there? I saw you talking with that girl at the counter."

Anna sighed silently and replied in quick gestures: "I was, and she is amazing!" then she made the heart sign with her hands and Rapunzel laughed. Anna loved to see her cousin smile.

One of the many things Rapunzel loved about Anna was the fact that, because of her condition, Rapunzel could turn up the music in her car as loud as she wanted and she would get no complaints. Another reason was that Anna was a miracle. Sine Rapunzel was her caretaker, she knew the extent of the toll that Anna's deafness had taken on her when Anna's parent died in a horrible fire when Anna was a seven year old girl. Anna, having been hit in the head with a beam from her house during the fire, had been knocked out and when she woke up, she was in a hospital room, completely unable to hear anything.

At first, Anna had trouble adapting to her new life of silence, but eventually, she learned sign language and other ways to communicate. She missed voices and the sounds of everyday life but most of all, she missed music. Eleven years later however, she was as happy as could be and perfectly content with life no music and all.

Anna smiled out the window and Rapunzel tapped her cousin's shoulder, breaking her thoughts about the beautiful blonde barista with the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.

Rapunzel gestured: "So what do you feel like eating tonight?"

"Chocolate!" Anna gestured back jokingly and Rapunzel laughed and nudged her.

"No, I mean real food, dummy!"

"I'd like some salad." Anna signaled and Rapunzel nodded, smiling.

"Salad it is then!" Rapunzel said aloud.

The relationship between the cousins was nothing short of affectionate. Since Rapunzel practically raised Anna since childhood, the older girl had always felt that Anna was more than a sister than a cousin. She felt like she was doing her Aunt and Uncle a favor by caring for the little deaf Anna. In return, she was rewarded by seeing the fruits of her labor of raising a child three years younger come alive in the person she loved the most. Rapunzel loved Anna more than anyone. More than anything. And Anna returned the feeling.

Rapunzel reached over and took Anna's hand, and the cousin's shared a smile, communicating through eye contact what they couldn't through words.

Meanwhile, Elsa was bicycling down the busy road on her way home, talking hastily to her little brother on the phone,

"Olaf, did you remember to feed the dog?"

"Yeah!" Olaf's small, cheery voice replied on the other end, "Sven's just fine! Hey, you sound a bit more happy than normal! Did you get a raise?"

"No I…" Elsa paused, then broke out into a small half smile, "I met a girl."

"Is it that Anna girl you've been talking about?" Olaf asked, pushing Sven off the couch.

"That's the one!" Elsa replied dreamily staring at the clouds in the sky, day dreaming about the beautiful redhead woman with the cute classes and loopy hand writing.

"Whoa!" Olaf said in excitement. Elsa could picture him clapping his hands, "That's so cool! Is she nice?"

"Very." Elsa smiled, sighing longingly, "I wish she could've stayed longer."

"Aww, she had to leave?"

The one of the many things Elsa loved about her little brother was that he was always sharing her emotions. If she felt happy, he felt happy. If she felt sad, he was sad. Elsa felt a deep connection with him as a big sister should. She was doing her very best to raise him right and according to Olaf, she was doing a fantastic job.

Elsa pedaled a bit faster down the highway, talking to Olaf and asking him how his day was going. He would reply in that same, never-ceasing adorable voice of his and Elsa would grin every time he stuttered a bit on his words. Elsa promised to buy her brother some ice cream if he joined her on a trip to the store later and Olaf enthusiastically agreed. The bicycle ride home from Elsa's work wasn't long and didn't put too much strain on Elsa's legs. About five minutes later, she pulled up to the little house in the middle of nowhere where Olaf was playing out in the front yard with Sven, their grey and black furred mutt. Sven, when Elsa got off her bike, rushed over and jumped on her chest, placing his paws on her shoulder and licking her face.

"Ah! Sven!" Elsa giggled shoving him playfully, "Down! Down, boy, gosh!" Sven returned to all fours but lovingly rubbed up against Elsa's legs as she opened her arms for her little brother. Olaf rushed up to her and threw his arms around her waist.

"Hey, sis!" He cried excitedly.

"Hi." Elsa smiled, hugging him back, ruffling his platinum blonde hair, "You ready to go, kiddo?"

"Hold on! Let me go and get my wallet!" Olaf replied, turning on his heel and dashing toward the house. Elsa smiled after him, putting her hands on her hips. She glanced down at Sven who was sitting by her side, ears perked and tail waving back and forth, tongue hanging out and panting excitedly, seemingly smiling in his excitement to see his owner again.

As Olaf and Elsa got on their bikes and began to pedal toward their destination, Rapunzel and Anna arrived at Rapunzel's home. The older woman hopped out of her mustang and circled the front of the car, opening the door for her younger cousin to exit. Anna gestured, "Thank you," and got out, hugged Rapunzel quickly, then hurried inside. Rapunzel, on her heels, watched with a laugh as Anna draped herself dramatically over the couch, sighing loudly and covering her eyes with her forearm. The brunette chuckled warmly at the small sound of Anna's still small voice and strode across the room to sit down on her stomach, playfully taking Anna's glasses and putting them on herself.

"Hmm no wonder you can't see without these puppies." Rapunzel said, laughingly, "You're blind as a bat!"

Anna blindly reached out for her glasses, blinking rapidly. Her cousin moved away teasingly gesturing for the younger girl to come closer. Anna, surprising Rapunzel, grabbed them off of her face with an exasperated giggle, then put them back on her face and stuck out her tongue. She was immediately met by a kiss on the forehead and a cheek pinch from the older girl.

"Dinner will be ready in about a half an hour, okay, four eyes?" Rapunzel gestured in sign language.

"Okay!" Anna signaled, her eyes lighting up, "Don't be any longer than that because I'm starving!"

"I'll try." Rapunzel replied, disappearing into the kitchen.

Anna laid fully back onto the couch, stretching luxuriously over the pillows where she half closed her eyes and watched the clock above the kitchen door until she felt tired enough to fall asleep. The silence provided excellent comfort and as she watched the second hand tick, tick, tick around the clock, her eyelids grew heavy and soon Anna drifted off into a light nap.

Elsa and Olaf spent the rest of the day together at the store. The two got some dinner, groceries, and stopped for ice cream after they were done. Both Elsa and Olaf got chocolate fudge ice cream and sat on the curb playing the game 'yellow cars.' The sun began to set and Elsa took Olaf home where the siblings sat down and played a card game. Elsa let Olaf win of course and grinned every time he cried out in victory. Elsa's favorite thing was when her brother began to playfully taunt her with a little dance that Elsa found absolutely hilarious. When Olaf began to get tired, Elsa laid him down on the couch so he could settle down for bed. She brushed the strands of unruly platinum blonde hair out of his eyes and smiled affectionately down at her little brother. He smiled fondly up at her and whispered, "If momma wasn't gone, I'm sure she'd be a lot like you."

Elsa paused, then it hit home. Elsa's parents had abandoned her with Olaf after they ran out of money and could no longer take care of their children. They left Elsa and Olaf the house that was in seclusion and no one knew about it. They still were provided water but very little came out of the shower heads in the morning so the siblings would take turns every other day. Elsa had raised Olaf on her own working for money and food, doing odd jobs like favors for people for a few dollars just so she could purchase food for herself and Olaf. As she grew, taking care of Olaf became easier and as soon, as she turned 21, she was able to get her current job at Starbucks.

Try as she might, Elsa could never seem to do enough for Olaf. She wanted to give him a childhood he deserved instead of making him do odd jobs just like she had done in his share of providing for the both of them. But hearing her little brother say something like that meant more to her than he realized. Elsa leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"EWWW!" Olaf cried, pushing her away playfully, wiping off his cheek vigorously, "I'm gonna get girl cooties!"

"Hmm." Elsa smiled, "Sorry. Make sure you get to bed before 10:00 okay? I'm gonna go to bed."

"Okay, sis!"

"Sleep tight…and don't let the bedbugs bite!"

"Please." Olaf rolled his eyes, then giggled.

Anna and Rapunzel, after eating their dinner, settled down together in the living room with two bowls of chocolate ice cream to watch a movie. Anna's eyes flicked from the subtitles to what was happening on the screen and she imagined what the character's voices sounded like. She smiled at the appropriate times, frowned as well. She missed the sounds of people's voices…more than anything…

Suddenly, Anna's phone in her pocket vibrated. She fished it out, then turned it on, surprised to find that it was a text from a number she had never seen before. Anna opened the text and her eyes lit up. Rapunzel beside her jumped a bit as Anna let out a small squeal.

"Whoa!" Rapunzel laughed, looking over her shoulder to read the text her cousin had received.

Anna read the text Elsa had sent her with a grin,

"Uh…heyya! It's Elsa. You know…the girl from the coffee shop? How are you doing this afternoon?"

Anna stared excitedly at the phone for a minute, then she pointed to it and began gesturing to Rapunzel that the message was sent by the coffee shop girl. Rapunzel, gestured enthusiastically for her to reply.

Anna texted back: "I'm doing WONDFERFULY now that you texted! I was just watching a movie with my cousin before heading off to bed! What's going on with you?"

Elsa, lying in the dark of her room, staring at the ceiling with her phone on her chest, smiled broadly, remembering how cute Anna had been earlier that day. Elsa shut her eyes and waited patiently for a reply. When her phone vibrated a few seconds later she sat up in her bed, not expecting a reply that fast.

Elsa opened the message and smiled when she read what Anna had written to her. She took a moment to think, then wrote back, "Aww… : ) What movie? And I was just thinking about earlier and how we didn't have nearly enough time to talk. If you have maybe Saturday off I'd like to take you to the mall where we can just hang out!"

Elsa sent the text and Anna read it, a grin spreading across her face. She took time to reply then sent it and immediately after, Rapunzel behind her squealed and threw her arms around Anna's neck.

"We're watching Lilo and Stich and I would love to hang out with you Saturday!" Anna had written, "If you're working, I could meet you there and we can hang out for however long you want!"

The barista's smile brightened. Anna accepting to hang out with her was the highlight of Elsa's week and she fell back on her bed, staring at the words on the screen, smiling excitedly.

Anna and Rapunzel stared at her phone until the screen lit up again with Elsa's reply.

"COOL! :D" Anna smiled excitedly, "I'm so excited to see you again! You have no idea how much I want to get to know you better."

Elsa turned on her side, in her bed, letting out a small hum of happiness as Anna wrote back:

"I want to get to know you better too! Never did I expect to be noticed, much less be asked to hang out. Thanks Elsa! I'll meet you at your Coffee shop, okay?"

"Sounds wonderful." Elsa wrote back.

"Goodnight then. ;P"

"Night."

Elsa curled up in her blankets with a wide smile on her face upon the promise of spending time with her new friend.

Anna laid her head on her cousin's chest and sighed slowly while Rapunzel began to braid her hair.

Both girls drifted off that night, thinking about the other.


	2. Chapter 2

"How come all I have is freaking trashy clothes?" Elsa asked her brother, flipping through dully colored blue and grey shirts. Due to their lack of money, the siblings couldn't afford many clothes and all the barista had to wear were t-shirts and jeans, nothing more. Most days, Elsa didn't care in the least about what she looked like; on days like this, however, she wanted the person she was meeting to like the way she looked. Perhaps one day she could make enough money to buy at least one good outfit to wear for special occasions.

"I dunno." Olaf said lazily, draped across his sister's bed with his hands behind his head, "We're not exactly the richest family out there."

"True." Elsa replied, pulling out a pair of ripped jeans and a white shirt with a paint stain on the back. She put the shirt to her chest and stood in front of her cracked vanity mirror. Olaf looked at her out of the corner of his eye and cracked a small smile as he watched his older sister bite her lip and narrow her eyes, looking at herself critically. She turned to him, still holding the white shirt in place, saying, "So how does this look?"

"Trashy." Olaf said shrugging, "but it looks okay, Elsie. You're just hanging out with her. Be chill and be yourself."

"Chill." Elsa echoed, turning around to look at herself again in the mirror, "Chill…"

She pulled the while t-shirt on and smoothed out the winkles as best she could. Then she stepped over to her bed where she sat down, laying back over her brother's stomach, and pulling out her phone, texting Anna…

Meanwhile, Anna calmly pulled her favorite t-shit over her head and fluffed her red hair a bit, walking over to the mirror and pushing up her glasses in order to see herself clearly. She felt a rumble in her throat as she made a slight, "Hmm." noise of approval. She ran her fingers through her hair once more, combing out a few stray knots before she let her hand fall to her side once more where it slid into the pocket of her jeans.

Anna felt a presence behind her. She turned to see Rapunzel standing in the doorway, smiling lovingly with her cell phone in her hand. The younger woman moved across the room to take it with a grin at Rapunzel. On the screen, there flashed a message from Elsa. Rapunzel felt her heart jump a bit in her chest as she watched how excited her little cousin became upon seeing the text from her crush. She watched as Anna's face fell slightly as she read the message…then she met two, pleading turquoise eyes.

"What?" Rapunzel asked aloud.

Anna proceeded to speak through sign language, "Elsa says that she doesn't have a car, but she has a bike. Could you please drive us to the mall and then back instead of making her have to ride her bike the whole way?"

Rapunzel crossed her arms and looked at her cousin as if to say, "Are you for real?"

Anna shrugged innocently, then reached out and took her cousin's hands, squeezing them gently and mouthing the words, "Please, Rapunzel?"

The older woman knew for a fact that she had to go to work that day, but she also knew that very few could look into Anna's pleading eyes and refuse a request so adorably asked for…

"Ahh, fine." Rapunzel sighed in exasperation and Anna jumped up and down a few times before throwing her arms around Rapunzel's neck and kissing her cheek in several different places before rushing passed her through the living room and to the door where she stood, bouncing on the heels of her feet, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I can't believe you sometimes, Anna." Rapunzel chuckled as she crossed the room, grabbing her purse off the door handle and opening the front for for her cousin. Anna scurried from the house and slid down the railing of the steps on the front porch and hopped to the ground where she tumbled into the car and slammed the door, bouncing up and down in her seat.

Rapunzel sighed, resting her hand on her chest, relieved that Anna hadn't hurt herself. The older woman absolutely HATED it when her cousin did that sort of thing. She was always afraid Anna would hurt herself so she always made it a priority to scold her, but this time she would make an exception. Her cousin looked so happy the last thing she wanted to do was be a downer.

As Rapunzel and Anna left the house, Elsa said goodbye to Olaf, fed Sven, then left her own house, peddling furiously down the road on her bike. She was used to the ride to her work so she knew the fastest route to take. She pedaled through the woods and up behind the shop. She jumped off her bike and pushed it up a steep hill and, reaching the top, she stopped a moment to catch her breath before parking her bike behind the building, panting and wiping her forehead free of sweat with her forearm. She straightened her shirt hastily and checked her hair before strolling casually around the side of her workplace. She neared the front doors and reached out to grasp the handle when suddenly, from behind her, someone beeped a car horn very loudly.

From inside the car, Rapunzel and Anna had watched Elsa trudge up the hill and walk around the side of the building. Rapunzel then had the bright idea to play a little trick on the blonde. The older woman leaned on the car horn, and both Anna and Rapunzel burst out laughing as Elsa jumped and pressed her back to the front door, looking wildly about for the source of the noise.

When Elsa locked in on Anna in the car, she relaxed and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, waving to the girls in the car.

"Smooth." Rapunzel scoffed.

Anna gestured for Elsa to get inside, and the barista stood there a moment, then jumped to attention. As elsa slipped inside the white mustang, she greeted Rapunzel with a hearty, "Heyya!"

"Sup!" Rapunzel responded with a smile.

Anna turned around in her seat and waved enthusiastically to Elsa who laughed warmly and waved back. Anna then quickly fumbled with her phone and sent Elsa a text message. The blond grinned at Anna who winked playfully back. Elsa pulled out her phone and read Anna's text: "My cousin here is gonna be driving us to the mall. I decided that riding a bike would be difficult with two people."

"Thank you." Elsa said to Anna's cousin who shrugged.

"Think nothing of it." Rapunzel replied, pulling away from the Starbucks store, "Anything for my little cousin."

Anna typed furiously on her phone and sent the message to Elsa where she read, "So! Punzy is gonna drop us off at the front doors and we can hang out for however long we want! I have the whole day off to goof around!"

Elsa smiled and wrote back, "Awesome! I can't wait! You need to show me all of the stuff you like to do for fun."

Anna got the text, read it, then replied, "Oh there's a TON of stuff I love to do!"

Rapunzel cleared her throat quietly grabbing Elsa's attention, "As you know, my cousin is deaf."

"Yes." Elsa said slowly, slightly worried by the expression of concern on Rapunzel's face. The brunette simply kept her eyes on the road in front of her with a face that showed concern.

"I want you to treat my cousin well." She said.

"Why wouldn't I?" Elsa asked awkwardly.

"I'm only warning you." Rapunzel continued, "If you do anything to hurt my baby girl…"

Elsa swallowed deeply and noticed that the woman was glaring at her from the rear view mirror at an angle that was just barely out of Elsa's line of sight. Elsa rubbed the back of her neck again, a nervous habit, and watched as Rapunzel's terrifying expression faded over the time span of a few minutes. Anna sent Elsa another text a few seconds later: "Punzy can be a bit over protective."

Elsa replied: "You think so? *sarcasm implied."

In the front seat, Anna giggled a little, then pushed her glasses up her nose.

"She's just everything to me, you know." Rapunzel went on, "And if she's hurt in any way shape or form, you won't even begin to imagine the consequences... The last thing in the world I want is for Anna to become depressed over some kind of relationship related issue."

"Understandable." Elsa said respectfully, "I completely understand and I'll do my best to uh…treat her right...w-which won't be a problem in the least, I assure you."

"Good." Rapunzel said quickly, her shoulder's slightly relaxing in the front seat, "She's like my little sister, you know."

"I do." Elsa smiled, "I have a little brother."

"Really?" Rapunzel asked, looking over her shoulder, "How old?"

"Nine." Elsa replied, "I'm raising him by myself."

"Wow." Rapunzel said, "That's impressive."

Suddenly, from the passengers seat, both women were interrupted by the sound of Anna furiously typing something on her phone. Both Rapunzel and Elsa received a text that read, "Do you mind not leaving me out of conversation? I know I can't hear, but you two are talking so fast I can't read your lips!"

Rapunzel, removed her hands from the steering wheel to say in sign language, "I'm sorry, we were just talking about how the two of us raised our siblings from a young age."

Elsa, not understanding what the cousins were saying through hand gestures, sat back on the car seat and looked out the window. The barista took time to notice the way Anna and Rapunzel would smile at each other often and give hand gestures that looked like more than simple words being exchanged. They looked more like symbols of affection more than anything.

Elsa found herself watching Anna through the rear view mirror, watching how the redhead would smile and show her expression vividly through her eyes. Elsa stared at the beautiful teal irises and felt the beginnings of butterflies in her stomach. She stopped gazing at Anna for a moment, sitting up a tad straighter in her seat upon the realization that she had, in fact, just felt what it felt like to have the metaphorical butterflies in her stomach for the first time.

Elsa bit her lip and stared out her window, thinking of the possibility of Anna and she becoming more than friends in the future. The barista rested her head in her hand and found herself slipping away into a world of daydreams. She envisioned herself with Anna sitting on the beach with Anna's head on her shoulder, watching the sunset. She envisioned long talks through text through the night, Anna and she laying side by side, simply hanging out, enjoying each others company. She envisioned Olaf and Anna meeting and how wonderfully they would get along together. But most importantly, she envisioned Anna kissing her cheek on multiple occasions and maybe…just maybe…a kiss on the lips.

There came a vibration from Elsa's lap and she absentmindedly lifted her phone so she could read Anna's message,

"What are you thinking about back there? You have a really funny look on your face."

Elsa lifted her eyes to look at Anna who was staring brightly from the front seat, her expressive eyes boring into Elsa's.

The blonde woman smiled lightly and said slowly so Anna could read her lips: "I was thinking about you."

Elsa had already, in her heart, decided that the relationship that she wanted with Anna was going to be an honest one. As embarrassing as it was to admit she was thinking about Anna right off the bat, she wanted to be completely honest.

Half expecting Anna's reaction to be negative, she was surprised to see the blush that covered the girl's cheeks. The younger woman's eyes fell to her phone where she began to write a reply, pushing up her glasses on her nose. Elsa received the text a moment later and hesitantly read the message,

"Oh you were, were you? What exactly where you thinking about with me in mind?"

Elsa lifted her head again to gaze at Anna who was now making a very, very unexpectedly alluring face. Elsa, completely taken aback by the sudden thudding of her heart, fumbled with her words awkwardly for a few moments. Then, remembering that Anna couldn't hear, she paused momentarily to stare back at the redhead before, lifting her phone and typing a message without breaking eye contact.

Anna looked at her phone and read: "I was thinking of what our friendship will be like in the future. I know we just met and all and I don't mean to creep you out but..."

"I'm not creeped out at all!" Anna typed quickly then sent it, "If anything I'm flattered you took the time to notice me!"

Elsa laughed gently and typed: "How could I not notice you with you coming in every day with your hair up so cute and your beautiful eyes staring from across the room?"

Anna let out the quietest giggle Elsa ever heard. But just the very slight sound was lovely to the barista who sat back in her seat, grinning involuntarily. Elsa texted: "I love the tiny sound of your laugh. It's very cute."

"Stop iiit!" Anna wrote back quickly before collapsing in a fit of silent giggles in the front seat. Rapunzel turned to look at Elsa for a fleeting moment before she said,

"You know how to get to her almost as fast as I can and I've known her since she was born."

"Well then!" Elsa replied smiling shyly, "I'm glad I can make her laugh."

"Me too." Rapunzel agreed, "Me too."

The three drove in silence then, Anna and Elsa occasionally sending the other flirty glances through the rear view mirror, teasing each other with winks and sticking out their tongues here and there. Soon enough, they arrived at the mall and Rapunzel dropped the two off at the main entrance. Rapunzel and Anna exchanged a few words through sign language before parting ways. Anna thanked her cousin with a kiss on the cheek and Elsa shook her hand.

"Have a good time with her." Rapunzel said to Elsa.

"I will…there's no need to worry." Elsa said reassuringly, "I'll take care of her. And anyway, with a good big cousin like you, I'm sure she knows what to do if anything should happen."

Rapunzel nodded, then slipped into her car and both Anna and Elsa watched as she drove away.

Suddenly the barista felt unbelievably awkward. She was alone with Anna once again and they had a whole day to spend together. What if she ran out of things to talk about? What if Anna got bored with her? What if Anna decided that she didn't like her as much as she thought she did? What if Anna got LOST?

…that was a ridiculous. Anna had a phone. Duh.

Elsa suddenly bristled a bit when she felt the familiar warmness of Anna's hand brushing against her. She felt her tongue stick to the roof of her mouth as five fingers knitted themselves with hers. Elsa turned her head to meet Anna's comforting gaze and, in an instant, she felt calmer, more sure of herself. There was nothing to worry about, no one to impress…it was just...Anna. Anna, her new friend who liked her for who she was and nothing more.

Anna squeezed Elsa's hand and mouthed the words, "Let's go!"

Elsa nodded, leading Anna inside where the two walked for a while passing shops here and there, just enjoying each other's company. Elsa loved how Anna's bare arm would brush up against her own every few steps and she found herself anticipating the next time it would happen.

Anna occasionally looked at Elsa and pointed in the direction she wanted to go, then Elsa would lead her, continuing their walk. The younger woman, excited as could be, was trying her best to keep a calm head. If she could hear anything, Anna knew for a fact that she would be babbling on and on about god knows what, most likely boring the blonde girl to death. But the girl with the glasses, like she had done so many times before, settled for stealing little glances at Elsa every now and again. She wished she could look at the gorgeous girl for as long as she wanted, but for then, Anna decided she should keep her distance lest the barista think she was awkward.

Anna loved how accepting Elsa was of her affections. She secretly hoped that Elsa would become hers in the future, but that was for later, now was the time for chocolate. The younger women lead the older through the mall, pointing in the direction of her favorite chocolate shop and patiently walking in time with Elsa's smooth stride. She swung her and Elsa's arm back and forth by their hands and smiled brightly when Elsa turned to her and laughed, her shoulders bouncing slightly.

The redhead guided Elsa into the chocolate store and pulled her in front of the many bars of chocolate that were laid out on display. Elsa looked from the chocolate to Anna bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, then back to the chocolate. Anna read Elsa's lips as the woman asked, "What would you like?"

Anna pointed to the single bar of milk chocolate and Elsa rubbed her cheek, looking at the price tag in front of the bar. It was a little bit to outrageously priced in Elsa's opinion, but as Anna began to fish through her bag for her wallet, the barista put a hand on Anna's shoulder and shook her head saying, "I'll pay."

"Are you sure?" Anna asked through eye contact.

Elsa nodded in reply, looked up to the clerk at the counter and said, "Two bars of the milk chocolate please."

"Sure thing!" The clerk replied.

Beside Elsa, Anna was full out flattered by Elsa's gesture and in her thanks she slid her arms around Elsa's waist and gave her a quick squeeze from the side. Since she couldn't verbally say thank you, Anna had taken to conveying words through touch and gestures, and Elsa, who didn't mind in the least that wanted Anna to touch her, was absolutely taken aback when Anna pressed herself against her side for a fleeting moment.

A rosy blush covered Elsa's cheeks and it creped gradually down her neck. She smiled awkwardly down at Anna who was blushing as well and playing with her shirt. Elsa, to Anna, felt like the biggest, softest, most comfortable pillow ever. Since the barista was so relaxed all the time, not a tense thing about her present, it left her to be the perfect person to simply hug and hold. And on top of all that, Anna thought that Elsa smelled absolutely wonderful.

The blonde picked up the two bars of solid chocolate and paid the clerk the money, thanking him with a smile and a nod. As the two women exited the store, Anna held Elsa's arm, this time holding it against her chest. Elsa, loving how Anna would show her excitement through physical contact, chuckled warmly and guided Anna over to a table for two. Anna plopped down into a chair and pulled out her phone so she could talk with Elsa.

"This is my favorite chocolate ever!" Anna wrote. Elsa smiled and replied,

"I can tell. So, what are you waiting for? Dig in!"

"Thank you so much for the chocolate, Elsa." Anna wrote, then looked the barista in the eye as sincerely as she could manage. The blue eyed woman received a spine tingling sensation down her back and she wrote back without looking at her screen,

"You're welcome, Anna. Anything for a girl as sweet as you."

When Anna read the message and saw the heart that Elsa had added to the message, she fully realized that Elsa was not just being nice, but she was, in fact, flirting a little. Anna lifted a hand to cover her mouth for a moment, staring at the screen, not wanting to look up at her new friend who had a look of pure adoration on her face.

The redhead's first instinct was to drop everything and hug the life out of Elsa, but that was out of the question. She needed to keep her distance for at least a few days so she could let the older woman get used to her presence. After all, Anna knew that she could be a bit touchy at times and she wanted Elsa to feel as comfortable as possible.

Anna replied through text: "You're sweet too, Elsa. If not sweeter."

"I…" Elsa said aloud, looking into the honest eyes of her friend, "…You…"

Anna cocked her head to the side curiously, wordlessly asking Elsa what she intended to say. The blonde paused a moment, bit her lip and shook her head, deciding that what she was going to say would've been moving their relationship along too quickly. She had only known Anna for about two days...she had to give their relationship time.

"Nothing." Elsa said, unwrapping her bar of chocolate. Anna followed suit and the two took simultaneous bites out of their pieces. Both girls made a quiet humming sound in their pleasure. Anna loved chocolate to no end and Elsa loved it as well. This was absolutely delicious. Elsa texted Anna: "I don't know why I've never tried this brand of chocolate before. It's delicious!"

Anna wrote back: "I KNOW right!? Don't you just love how it melts in your mouth?"

"Hmmm." Elsa hummed aloud, nodding in reply. The two continued to eat their chocolate in peace until Anna was ready to move on. She sent a text Elsa's way that said, "I have some shops I want to stop by if you don't mind! Rapunzel's birthday is coming up soon and I'd like to look for something for her."

"Of course." Elsa said, standing up and offering a hand for Anna to take. The redhead pushed up her glasses and took Elsa's outstretched hand, making Elsa shiver slightly once again as she knitted her fingers with hers. The women walked through the hallways of the mall side by side, peering into certain clothing shops, Elsa secretly wishing that she could buy some new clothes for her and her brother. As the two women passed a game shop Elsa began to think of how wonderful it would be if she could simply walk in there and buy a new game for her brother to play. Checkers and cards were getting kind of boring for the both of them and Elsa, if she had more than a few bucks in her pocket left, she would definitely spend it on something for her brother to enjoy out of that store.

Anna took a moment to notice how Elsa was staring longingly into the window of the board game shop. Elsa had just spent money on her; a reasonably large amount for a first meeting as well, and now she was gazing into a store that had many board games on display, her desire for something in there clearly showing. Anna stopped walking abruptly. Elsa stopped as soon as Anna did and looked to her questioningly.

The younger woman pulled out her phone and texted: "I see you looking into that store over there…do you want to buy a board game or something?"

Elsa shook her head back and forth vigorously, but Anna looked at her as if to say, "Don't tell me you don't want a game after you've been staring into that window like that." Elsa looked at her shoes and put her hands behind her back, avoiding Anna's gaze.

Anna rolled her eyes and pulled Elsa into the store where she gestured around her mouthing: "Pick one."

Elsa shyly looked at Anna and texted: "I wanted to get a game for my brother and I to play, but you don't need to buy one for me even though I appreciate it a ton."

Anna huffed and looked at Elsa exasperatedly.

"Okay, okay." Elsa sighed, then dialed her brother's number. Anna began looking around at the board games, waiting for Elsa to finish her talk with Olaf.

"Hello?" his little voice came from the other end.

"Hey buddy!" Elsa greeted him cheerfully, "I'm at the mall right now and Anna's just offered to buy us a new board game!"

"NO WAY!" Olaf squealed excitedly, "Is monopoly there?!"

Elsa looked about and found an entire rack covered in different types of monopoly games.

"You bet!" she replied, walking up to it and looking at the many kinds of themes the monopoly games had.

"Get the doggy one, please!" Olaf said happily.

"Sure thing, bro. We'll play it later when I get home okay? How are you doing? Did you eat your lunch?"

Anna, watching from afar, read Elsa's lips as she asked her brother how he was doing. Looking at the concern in her eyes, the redhead found the blonde extremely attractive. Just knowing that Elsa was able to take care of a little child, sacrificing time and money for him, was adorable to Anna.

After asking him a few more things, making sure everything at home was in order, Elsa hung up and slid the phone in her pocket with a sigh. Anna returned to her side and the barista took Anna's hand on her own accord this time and picked up a dog themed monopoly game off the shelf, turning the box around the check the price. Anna, knowing the possibility of Elsa protesting once she saw the price, grabbed the box from the unsuspecting blonde before she could read the price tag and teasingly made her way over to the front desk with Elsa on her heels.

After Anna bought the board game for Elsa, she pulled her friend out of the store and held out the bag for her companion to take. Elsa took a moment to look from the bag, back to Anna. Feeling that urge arise in her chest, Elsa decided to try her luck for a hug. She moved forward cautiously, observing Anna closely to see if any uneasiness crossed her face but as she drew nearer, the only emotion Elsa could see was inviting affection.

Elsa put her arms around Anna's waist and gently held her in a loose hug for a moment before backing up and taking the bag from her and saying, "Thank you."

Anna nodded in reply and took Elsa's hand once again. Instead of dragging her down the hallway to a new store like Elsa had expected her to do, Anna pulled the older girl into a hug where Anna threw her arms over the taller girl's shoulders, pulling her down and forward where Elsa was held captive in an even tighter hug than before. Elsa had her face pressed to Anna's shoulder and she awkwardly adjusted herself so she could put her arms around Anna's waist yet again.

The redhead absolutely LOVED warm hugs and she never passed an opportunity to get one. This hug felt different, however. Unlike Rapunzel, Elsa was a good few inches taller than Anna and just the feeling of a taller person she knew she was slightly attracted to in her arms, made the young woman blush with pleasure.

Elsa, never having hugged anyone other taller than her brother, shut her eyes and breathed in the pleasant smell that was purely Anna. Her clothes were soft and warm and her body was relaxed and welcoming. It was refreshing to hug someone taller and sweeter close to herself and Elsa loved every moment of it.

Anna let go a few moments later, both girls backing away from each other shyly. After sharing a slightly awkward gaze, Anna giggled and Elsa rubbed the back of her neck again, smiling nervously. Pulling out her phone, Anna sent Elsa a text message that said: "Who knew you were such a great hugger, Els. Why don't we keep going then? I have a few places I know you'll like to visit."

"Sure." Elsa replied through text, "I've never had the pleasure of hugging anyone taller than my little brother so…thanks for that."

Anna read the text and brushed up against Elsa playfully, the barista getting the message without having Anna text her.

The younger linked her arm with the older, and the two moved throughout the mall the rest of that day, visiting Anna's favorite shops. Anna would point to things and text Elsa her thoughts about it and what things were her favorite. The awkward older woman thought that after hours of spending time with the same person, one of them would get bored of the other, but as the third hour ticked by, then the fourth, then the fifth, both women remained completely engrossed in the other, talking through text about themselves, learning what the other liked, getting to know each other.

As the sun began to set, Anna received a text from Rapunzel, interrupting her conversation with Elsa about their favorite types of coffee. Anna rested her hand on Elsa's shoulder, stopping her and opening up the text.

Anna's face fell for the first time in all the hours they had spent together and Elsa cast her a concerned look. The redhead texted Elsa: "Punzy's outside waiting for us."

Elsa's heart sank slightly at the thought of having to leave her again and, just like the time back at the coffee shop a few days ago, Elsa gave Anna involuntary puppy eyes, leaving Anna to feel completely helpless and slightly guilty. The younger woman reached up and surprised Elsa with brushing some hair behind her ear and cupping her cheek in her hand.

Anna then mouthed the words: "I'll come by and see you tomorrow at work, okay?"

Elsa nodded, as her mind was suddenly filled with her former daydream of Anna kissing her cheek. The barista desperately wanted it to happen and silently willed Anna's freckled face closer, but all Anna did was move away and take Elsa's hand again. This time it was Anna who lead Elsa from the mall. Once they were outside, Anna texted her cousin who rolled up in her white mustang moments later and opened the door for Anna.

"SO!" Rapunzel said aloud as well as gesturing in sign language as soon as the two girls were inside, "How did it go?"

"Amazing!" Elsa smiled.

"Wonderful!" Anna gestured.

Rapunzel chuckled.

Elsa and Anna texted the whole way back to Elsa's workplace. Upon reaching the coffee shop, Elsa exited the car and Anna rolled down the window, gestured for Elsa to come closer. The blonde bent down and Anna gestured Elsa come closer. Soon, the barista had her head so close to Anna's that they were within kissing distance. Anna removed her glasses and moved forward so close that Elsa closed her eyes, readying herself for a kiss... but as she felt Anna's cheek brushing against hers, she felt slight disappointment. The feeling faded when she felt the younger girl's lips press gently against her cheek In a feather light kiss. The barista blushed heatedly and felt small tingling sensations run up and down her spine. Anna reached up and cupped Elsa's other cheek, kissing her again, nuzzling Elsa's face before sitting back in her seat and putting her glasses back on. Rapunzel rolled up the window and Anna mouthed the word: "Goodbye." to Elsa, waving sweetly. The older woman stood, slightly out of it, that goofy look returning to her face. Rapunzel nodded as if to say, "nice job, kid." then drove away without another word.

It was about a minute after the car had gone before Elsa realized she was still waving. She cleared her throat loudly to jar herself back to reality and checked her phone to find a message from Anna, "Thanks for a great evening, Els."

"You're completely welcome." Elsa wrote back, as she began to walked around the side of the building to get to her bike, "We can do it again whenever you'd like."

"I'd like that very much." Anna replied, moments after Elsa sent the message, "Thanks again for the chocolate. Sleep well tonight and tell your brother that his new board game is a gift from me, okay?" then Elsa smiled as she saw that Anna had written a heart symbol at the end of her message.

As the blonde picked up her bike, she rested a hand on the cheek that Anna had kissed. Her mind began to wander to the fact that Anna was deaf…she wondered what it would be like to not hear anything. No music, no voices, no sounds, nothing. Nothing but silence for the rest of her life…

Then Elsa had an idea, sat up in her bike seat and thought aloud, "What about those weird things called cochlear implants?!" then she nearly ran into a tree. Elsa, her heart set on having Anna hear again, pedaled faster and faster, already thinking of ways she could get money to save up for a way for Anna to hear. Elsa would need to do research, lots of thinking and working and spending time with Anna.

She imagined Anna's face when she heard voices for the first time in a long while. She imagined Anna's eyes and how they would light up…how happy she would be. How in love with Elsa she would fall. Elsa knew she had already won Anna's affections from the very beginning, but she wanted to do something for her. Something more than simply saying, "I like you."

Perhaps by the time Elsa would make enough money for Anna's implants, the two would be in such a good relationship that the first time Elsa says, "I love you." Would be when Anna could actually hear it instead of looking at words on a screen.

"Yes." Elsa sighed, "This is gonna be awesome."


	3. Chapter 3

Rapunzel walked slowly up to Anna's door, reached down for the door handle where she turned it, opened the door a crack, stuck in her arm, and waved her arm back and forth, letting Anna know that she was coming inside. When she didn't receive the usual small grunt of allowance of entry, Rapunzel peeked inside and found Anna sleeping soundly on her bed with her face covered in one of her favorite books, _The Horse and His Boy_. Rapunzel smiled lovingly at her cousin and silently moved inside the room, shutting the door behind her. Crossing the room to sit on Anna's bedside, Rapunzel noticed Anna's phone, lying beside her.

The brunette, curious, picked up the device and checked the texting app Anna was using to text the Barista she had been talking too for the past three weeks. The last parts of their conversation went something like this:

"So thanks for stopping by today. It really made my day a whole lot better." said Elsa.

"You're welcome, Elsa. I love to spend time with you!"

"I love spending time with you too, freckles...Hey, just so you know, my annoying cousin Kristoff is coming by sometime today so I'm going to have to pay attention to him unfortunately. If you don't hear a lot from me today, that's why."

"Okay. :( Is he a relative?"

"A…distant relative."

"I see. Well, I'll come by and visit you sometime in the future, okay?"

"As soon and as often as you can ; P"

"You're hilarious."

Then Rapunzel broke out into a soft smile as she read the conversation between the two as they went on to complement each other with a bunch of hearts in each message sent on both ends. It was safe to say that the two girl's relationship was adorable. For the past few weeks, Anna had done nothing but talk about Elsa and how amazing she was. Even though Rapunzel felt hesitant about letting her younger cousin hang out with someone completely new, she felt Elsa wasn't a threat in any way. The barista was an honest, kind, relaxed woman, and she seemed to act like herself around Anna as far as Rapunzel could tell so there wasn't going to be the issue of dishonesty is their future relationship.

From the bed, beside Rapunzel, there came a small noise from Anna that resembled a grunt and the young woman rolled over onto her side, her book falling off her face onto the side of her bed where she snorted a little and jolted awake, surprised to see Rapunzel sitting above her holding her cell phone and simply staring.

Anna sighed slowly, seeing as it was just her cousin, and relaxed onto her bed, lifting her hands to gesture in sign language, "How are you doing, Punzy?"

"I'm doing great! How was your nap?"

"Wonderful…until you woke me up." Anna shot her a playful look and Rapunzel chuckled and rested a hand on Anna's side, lovingly gazing down at her cousin.

"Hey," Rapunzel said in sign language, "I'm going to get dinner ready in a few."

"Great!" Anna gestured happily, sitting up and resting her hands on Rapunzel's lap, bouncing her up and down.

The older woman chuckled and leaned down to plant a small kiss on her cousin's forehead before standing to her feet and waving silently to Anna as she left the room. The cheerful girl waved back and when her cousin as gone, she dove under the blankets on her bed and curled up into a small, warm ball.

Rapunzel was halfway into the kitchen when she heard her cell phone give the small, "ding" noise that alerted her to her receiving a text. The brunette pulled out her phone as she opened the refrigerator to get dinner ready, and paused as she read the message from the barista,

"Hey, Punzy. I'm not going to be able to make it to our sign language meeting tomorrow due to…an extra job I just got so if you could maybe meet me over Skype tomorrow that would be awesome."

The older woman stood up straight, leaning on the side of the refrigerator, thinking of a reply, then she texted back, "Sure thing, Elsa. I appreciate the time you've been putting into learning sign language just so you can talk to my cousin. I'm sure she's going to adore you even more than she does now after learning of all the time and effort you've set aside just so you can learn her way of speaking."

Elsa, playing monopoly with her brother, told him to wait moment so she could read her text from Rapunzel.

"She adores me!?" Elsa said aloud and Olaf raised a eyebrow inquisitively. Elsa took a moment to reply a quick thanks to Rapunzel before setting her phone down and clearing her throat, "Well then! Uhhhhh...where were we?"

Having received a job at the local mall, cleaning up a section of the mall after hours, Elsa had been up all hours of the night recently, finding it hard to balance her sign language lessons with Rapunzel, getting rest, and two jobs at one time. Having to get up every day and go to work at Starbucks first thing in the morning, then go straight to the mall a few hours later to clean, was doing a number on her. Though, she told herself she could do it...she could do it for Anna.

It had been three weeks exactly since she had started saving up for Anna's implants and so far she had put a little bit of every paycheck into a savings which she told herself she could never touch. EVER. So far she had a total of 50 dollars in that savings account, and at that rate she knew it would take years to get Anna her implants, but she was going to try anyway.

Olaf had been submitting some money into a little jar for Anna's implants as well, taking a few dollars from the total he got for doing odd jobs around the neighborhood like raking leaves and trimming hedges, cutting grass and walking dogs to place in the jar. The boy, elated to know that Anna had paid for his new favorite game, felt like he wanted to repay her somehow and when his sister had explained that there was a way for Anna to hear again, he was all for it. He had run up to his room to take half of his saved money out of his little paper treasure chest he had made himself. He brought down a glass jar, placed it on the kitchen counter and placed the money in it, earning a tight hug and kiss from Elsa.

By doing her part along with Olaf contributing a little every day, Elsa was sure that there was a good chance that both of them could eventually get enough money. Perhaps she could buy a lottery ticket every once in a while and hope for the best.

"YES!" Olaf shouted, as he moved his piece to across a few squares where it landed on park place, "I just got Park place! You're so screwed, Elsie!"

Elsa moaned dramatically, "Oh yes, Olaf. I'm so screwed!"

Olaf giggled with glee and counted his fake money with a broad smile…but then his smile faltered and his grip on all of the fake money in his hands tightened.

"What is it bud?" Elsa asked.

"…I wish this stuff was real money that we could put in the jar for Anna."

Elsa's heart went out for her little brother and she smiled sadly and stood, walking around the table to pick him up and hold him in a tight hug. Normally Olaf would back away and say, 'eww' but this time he sensed that this was a serious moment and he, this time, didn't mind a hug from his sister.

Elsa sat down Olaf's chair with her brother in her arms, holding him close to her, saying, "You're so sweet, Olaf…"

Olaf said nothing and put his arms around Elsa's neck, hugging her back for the first time in forever and Elsa smiled. The little man said, "I know we'll find a way to get her some of those ear implant thingies…and we'll get them sooner than you think. Are you sad because of how long it's going to take?"

"I'm not sad about that." Elsa sighed, "I'm just so worried about you and how this will affect you…"

"How will it affect me?" Olaf asked innocently, "This is something we both want to do and I know that, together, we can accomplish this!"

"Yeah." Elsa smiled, "You're such a good kid, Olaf."

Cutting Olaf's reply off, from the front of the house, there came the sound of a motorcycle approaching and both siblings made an exasperated sigh in the same mannerism. Olaf and Elsa looked at each other with a pained expression as if to say, "He's here."

"Crap." Elsa sighed, running her fingers through her blonde hair and struggling to her feet, setting her brother back down in his seat, "let's just get this over with so he can leave."

"Does he really have to be here?" Olaf asked, "I mean, we won't even get to finish our game!"

"He's here because we're his only family left, Olaf." Elsa explained, "Put aside the fact he's loud, annoying, and been in and out of jail several times, he's still out family…"

Olaf crossed his arms and huffed, looking away from his sister, "Hopefully he won't eat all our food again. I just bought my favorite kind of peanut butter with my own money!"

Elsa began to say something else along the lines of "Me too", but she was rudely, and unceremoniously, interrupted by a loud knock at the door. Elsa gave Olaf one more apologetic glance before rushing over to the front door where she halted a moment, readied herself and turned the doorknob, opening the door to see her cousin Kristoff smoking a cigarette out on the front porch, his Harley parked right beside Elsa's bicycle.

"Hey, nerds!" Kristoff boomed in a voice that made Elsa wince away from him, "How you guy's doin over here!"

"We're doing fine, Kris, thanks for stopping by," Elsa said politely gesturing toward the living room, "Would you like to-"

Kristoff, without letting her finish, barged into the house, rudely moving Elsa aside as if she were nothing more than a simple obstacle in his way, and striding through the living room to the kitchen where Olaf was standing beside the table, protectively standing in front of his game. Kristoff paused, looked Olaf up and down, then ruffled Olaf's platinum blonde hair before rooting through the kitchen to find some kind of food.

Elsa rubbed the back of her neck nervously as she walked up to her brother. He looked up at her in wordless annoyance. As the siblings watched their rude cousin rooting through the pantry and cup boards, Elsa's phone suddenly vibrated on the table and, like it was a lifeline, Elsa grabbed it, hoping with all of her heart that it was Anna. She grinned as she saw that it was her redhead crush and opened the text she had sent. To Elsa, Anna had been a means of escape for her in many instances where stress had been a problem. Just talking to the bubbly girl made Elsa feel better in so many ways.

"Hey, blondie!" Anna had written, "Sorry I fell asleep, but I just had an idea and wanted to see if you would like to come over for dinner tomorrow night!"  
Elsa, her heart fluttering, replied, "Heck yeah I'd like to come over for dinner!"

Anna, who was sitting in front of Rapunzel at the dinner table, received Elsa's text and smiled at the reply. Rapunzel grinned in her happiness for her cousin. Elsa had been nothing but a good influence on her cousin and Rapunzel wanted to see what they would do together if they were alone and in a comfortable environment with nothing to do. Rapunzel knew for a fact that both girls were attracted to each other, and knew also that both of them knew it, but were too afraid to admit it. Perhaps, in a few more week's time after spending a few days together, one of them would be brave enough to come out of their shell and confess openly.

Elsa sat down at the kitchen table and continued to text Anna about tomorrow night, ignoring her cousin who had his hand in her brother's peanut butter jar. Olaf leaned against the table, his arms crossed and a look of slight hatred on his face.

"So hey," Kristoff said, his back turned, "You mind if I scoot early? I actually got a court meetin' later."

"What?" Elsa asked, in the middle of her text, "What the hell, Kris?"

"I don't wanna talk about it, missy." Kristoff said, walking up to his cousin and ruffling her hair. Elsa pushed him off angrily and stood, placing her hand on Kristoff's shoulder and shoving him towards the door, "How many times have I told you not to call me missy, you idiot?"

"Hey, no hard feelins tho!" Kristoff said, his mouth full of peanut butter, "I gotta scadoo! I just dropped by for some food and to say heyyo!"

"That's…lovely Kris." Elsa said rubbing her eyes tiredly, "Just do what you need to do."

"I got my peanut butter and said hey to you twos so….I'm OUTTA HERE!"

Kristoff then waved hastily goodbye, hurried out the door, leaving it hanging wide open. The siblings stood in the doorway and watched with relief as Kristoff jumped on his Harley and revved the engine, making Elsa and her brother wince at the jarring sound. Their cousin drove off without so much as a wave and both Elsa and Olaf sighed.

"Thank god." Elsa muttered.

"He took my peanut butter…" Olaf sighed, "Man…"

"Sorry, bro." Elsa apologized, rubbing her eyes again, "The nerve of that guy…You'd think that he'd at least try to act civil around his family for once but of course not. God damn it."

"Swear." Olaf warned.

"Sorry." She apologized.

"Well." Olaf sighed, his little shoulders heaving, "We might as well clean up the game board no use in finishing it now."

"If you want to." Elsa replied, putting her hand on Olaf's back and walking with him back to the table where both she and he cleaned up their game, carefully, cleanly, making sure every piece was in the box in the right place. Olaf set the lid on the top of the box very carefully and Elsa reached down and patted his head, lightly.

"Are you hungry, buddy?" she asked.

"Not right now." Olaf said, leaning on her sister's side, "I might be if he hadn't stolen my peanut butter...Are you off from work today, sis?"

"No, I need to leave in about an hour to go to the mall and clean up." Elsa said sadly, "So I'm not going to be home to tuck you in again."

"Oh." Olaf said sadly, his shoulders slumping a bit.

Elsa paused a moment, then got to her knee and pulled her brother in for a hug. She whispered, "How about you and me go upstairs right now and I read you a bit of your story for tonight okay?"

Olaf perked up at this immediately and without another word he raced through the kitchen, through the living room, up the stairs and took a flying leap into his bed, grabbing the book off of his nightstand and holding it to his chest.

Elsa followed suit and walked into his room, smiling at the sight of her brother ready for his story. The blonde sat down, took the book and opened it to the page that she had dog eared the last time she read to him. She smiled at the boy who's eyes were sparkling with excitement.

"Now…" Elsa smiled, looking down at her brother's favorite book, "Where were we? Ahh…Yes, chapter nine… 'And now the winds which had so long been from the northwest began to blow from the west itself and every morning when the sun rose out of the sea, the curved prow of the _Dawn trader_ stood up right across the middle of the sun.'."

Meanwhile, Anna was stretched out over her bed on her stomach with Rapunzel rubbing her back. The older woman was humming a soft song that she imagined Anna could hear and Anna relaxed herself entirely, taking advantage of the rare moment that her cousin could spend quality time with her. Anna stretched luxuriously and sat up. The freckled girl took off her glasses, turned around, and collapsed in Rapunzel's lap, curling up and yawning tiredly.

"You're such a lazy bum." Rapunzel said, smiling.

Rapunzel felt the breath brush by her ear so she knew her cousin had said something. In response she made sure she made a hum of acknowledgement. The small sound made Rapunzel extremely happy and as Anna gripped Rapunzel's shirt and pressed her face into the soft fabric, the older woman whispered softly, "Goodnight, my sweet girl." Anna felt the breath on her ear again and signed, "Goodnight."

As Elsa mopped the floor vigorously, listening to her favorite kind of music, she thought of how much her brother loved to be read to. Their last moments together for that evening replayed in her mind over and over. Elsa loved her brother more than anything, and wanted to do so much more for him. Tomorrow she would have to get up bright and early, go to Starbucks and start her shift. As soon as it was over she would head straight over to Anna's place to hang out and have dinner. Just thinking about spending more time with Anna after only seeing her a few times that week made Elsa move faster and she mopped the mall floor as quickly as she could.

* * *

The next morning, both women awoke to sun streaming through their windows. Anna slowly woke up, blinking against the sun, and then smiling, remembering that Elsa was coming over later that day. However, Elsa, as soon as she opened her eyes, rolled right out of bed and ran straight to work. Before she left she made sure she kissed her brother goodbye, then ran out the door to grab her bicycle. She pedaled as fast as she could to her workplace where she burst through the door with a radiant smile on her face, grabbed her apron and started her shift. from the start of her shift, every order she made perfectly, she met everyone with a genuine smile. Elsa was happier than she had ever been before, all because her thoughts were completely focused on Anna and the fact that she would see her later that night.

Anna, meanwhile, prepared the entire house, cleaning the floors and cleaning her room free of clothes strewn across the floor and she put her many books about the room away. She cleaned the kitchen, made sure everything looked perfectly neat and organized. As she bustled about Rapunzel's house, the brunette sat by and watched her cousin amusedly. Just seeing Anna cleaning instead of having to do it herself made the older woman somewhat proud. After about two hours of watching Anna clean, try as she might to get the redhead's attention, Rapunzel could not. In the end, she ended up grabbing Anna's hand as she hurried by to grab the vacuum cleaner, stopping her from cleaning the carpet for the third time.

When Anna felt Rapunzel's hand close around her wrist she stopped herself and turned her head to see her cousin looking concerned.

"The house looks wonderful, Anna." Rapunzel said through hand gestures, taking a moment to gesture around her, "You can rest now."

"I want to make sure everything looks nice for her."

Rapunzel shook her head, smiling, and pulled Anna down on the couch with her where Anna immediately protested and stood to her feet again before being promptly pulled back down into a strong pair of arms who held her steadily as she struggled.

Rapunzel laughed after Anna gave up after struggling for only a few seconds.

"There you go." Rapunzel sighed, placing her cousin beside her on the couch, "Just relax."

As Anna made an effort to calm down and be patient, Elsa eyed the clock until the time she got off work. The very second her shift ended she jumped through the back door into the break room, threw off her outfit and changed into her regular t-shirt and jeans, grabbed her phone and texted Anna right as she walked out the door hurriedly, "Hey, Anna! My shift just ended and I'm heading over as soon as I can. Maybe I need to save up for a car or something like that so I can visit without having to-"

She was interrupted when she slammed directly into a tall person who was waiting in line for coffee. She removed her cheek from the man's chest and looked up into two green eyes who stared down at her curiously. The green eyes took a moment t to looked her up and down, then finally settled on her platinum blonde hair…

"…Elsa?" The man said, narrowing his eyes.

"That's me." Elsa said, moving backwards and folding her hands, "Um…And you are?"

"Eugene." He said, bowing slightly, "I was kind of looking for you."

"Oh." Elsa said awkwardly tugging on her braid and looking at the floor, "Uhh…that's nice."

"I'm Punzy's good friend." He said with a smile, "I was sent to come pick you up."

Elsa perked up again and said much more confidently, "Oh Jeez, thank you, dude!"

"Not a problem." Eugene said lightly, "I was standing in line for coffee but, it can wait. Anna was really excited to see you before I left and I'm sure she still is so why don't we get going. The sooner we get you there, the better."

Elsa smiled broadly at this and followed Eugene out the front door of the coffee shop and into Rapunzel's white mustang she had lent to him specifically for the job of picking up Elsa. The barista settled herself in the passenger's seat and stared out the window as Eugene pulled out of the parking lot and onto the busy road.

"So!" Eugene said, slapping his hands on the steering wheel, "How do you know Anna and Punzy?"

"Anna came in my coffee shop one day about three weeks or so ago and she came back for about two days after that, just watching me. I guess she likes me."

"She must if she took time out of her day to simply stare at you." Eugene laughed, "And I don't blame her."

Elsa rolled her eyes and smiled at the man who's returning grin was nothing short of stunning. Elsa giggled and rested her head on her hand, "Yeah well, you're not so bad looking yourself, big guy. Are you Rapunzel's boyfriend?"

"For the moment…just friend." Eugene said with a hint of discouragement on his voice, "but she soon will be mine, mark my words!"

Elsa giggled yet again at the sound of his chivalrous voice and the older man laughed quietly and shook his head, "It's taken me this long to get her attention, I might as well try my luck."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck." Elsa smiled.

"And I wish you the best of luck with Anna." Eugene replied as he pulled up into Rapunzel's driveway, "Although it looks like you don't need it."

When Anna, who had been sitting out on the front porch patiently for Elsa to arrive, saw Rapunzel's car rolling into the driveway she jumped and stumbled to her feet, charged down the set of stairs and ran right up to the car and opened the door for Elsa. Before the blonde had any kind of chance to react, Anna pulled her into a massive, warm hug.

Elsa rested a hand on the back of Anna's head and slowly relaxed, settling her other arm around her waist. The older woman held her tightly for a moment while Anna simply leaned into her entirely, grinning, eyes shut in pleasure.

"I missed you." Elsa whispered into Anna's ear…then she remembered that Anna couldn't hear and nearly face palmed, but the smaller woman leaned up and pressed her cheek to Elsa's and tapped something in Morse code along her back that said something like, "I missed you!" Elsa felt the series of gentle taps of Anna's fingers and a shiver went up her spine.

Anna was slightly surprised when she felt Elsa pull her closer, and pressing her cheek to Anna's in response to her tapping. Eugene, watching the spectacle, hadn't taken his eyes of the two and was, by Rapunzel's standards, (she was watching through the window at the scene going on) smiling creepily at both girls.

Both let go of each other and Anna took Elsa's hands, leading her towards the front door, followed by Eugene who saw Rapunzel move away from the window to retreat further into the house, no doubt to hide like the hermit Eugene knew she was. Anna opened the door for Elsa and, with a polite nod of thanks, Elsa walked inside.

The house smelled like Anna.

The barista paused, halting a few steps into the room before she took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly and taking in the relaxed feeling of the cozy looking house. Anna moved into Elsa's line of sight and pointed to her shoes. The blonde, so used to walking into her own house, not caring about her shoes, looked at Anna strangely for a moment. As she realized Anna wasn't wearing any shoes, she took a moment and removed her shoes, placing them by the door.

Anna then gestured for Elsa to follow her. As the two walked through the living room passed the kitchen and down a hallway, Elsa bid Rapunzel a good afternoon as she appeared in the doorway of her bedroom, stopping a moment to say hello back. The two women walked into Anna's room and as Elsa passed from the quiet hallway into Anna's bedroom, she breathed in once more and exhaled slowly, smiling adoringly as she watched her crush throw herself dramatically over the side of her bed.

Elsa crossed the space between her and the bed and sat down slowly, smiling at Anna who smiled back with that ever present joyfull smile.

"How are you?" Elsa asked.

Anna made an okay sign with her fingers, then grabbed her phone and texted, "You should bring your brother by sometime so we can all chill!"

Elsa smiled and typed back, "I'm sure he'd love too. He still wants to thank you personally for his monopoly game. I haven't gotten a break from playing it since the first day I brought it home!" Anna chuckled lightly and wrote in reply,

"I'm so glad he likes it. And I'm glad you like it too."

"Maybe one day, if you decide to drop by, you and I can play."

"Sounds lovely."

Both woman paused a moment to smile at each other happily.

Anna then wrote, "I hope you know how much I missed you over the week. You know, after all the time we spend on the three Saturdays since I met you, I hated being limited to seeing you only a few hours a day where you're just too busy to talk anyway."

Elsa read the message and looked up into the younger woman's eyes.

"Believe me if I had a choice, I would quit my job at Starbucks to spend more time with you," Elsa wrote,"but I need to make a living."

"Understandable," Anna replied, suddenly feeling awkward, "I mean, I wasn't suggesting you quit your job for me. Jeez that was a massively selfish thing to say, okay…Anyway…"

Elsa laughed and Anna watched Elsa with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Elsa crossed her legs on Anna's bed and Anna scooted closer to her. Then, the barista began to think about the implants she was saving up to buy for Anna and she began to smile broadly. Anna reached forward and rested a hand on Elsa's leg, then mouthed the words, "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing important." Elsa replied, "It's a secret."

That got Anna interested.

"Tell me!" she mouthed excitedly, scooting very close to Elsa.

Now Elsa, who was determined to keep the implants a secret from Anna at all costs retreated back against the bed, laughing, "No way!"

"Come on!" Anna's eyes prodded as she moved forward and rested both hands on Elsa's legs to keep her from escaping. Elsa tried to move backwards but Anna held her there steadily, pleading with her playfully, waiting more than anything to know her special secret.

"No!" Elsa giggled as Anna moved closer still, "There's no way I'm telling you!"

Anna giggled and kept advancing in on Elsa, sitting down stubbornly on Elsa's lap and crossing her arms, grinning triumphantly, wordlessly saying, "let's see you get out of THIS." Elsa laid back on Anna's pillows and looked up at Anna, laughing, no longer trying to get away. She looked into the beautiful teal eyes of the younger girl above her and tilted her head. Anna removed her glasses and delicately laid them down on the bed, then laid atop of Elsa crossing her arms over her chest, smiling adoringly up at the platinum blonde.

The feeling of the younger girl draped across her figure was surprisingly more pleasurable than Elsa thought. Anna softly sighed and Elsa placed a hand on the small of Anna's back. The younger girl loved how warm Elsa felt, all except her hands which were always somehow cold. Elsa said it had something to do with the genetics in her family. Anna reached down and took Elsa's other hand knitting her fingers with five cold ones that held her hand firmly.

Anna reached up and put her arms underneath Elsa's head, propping it up, then resting her head on the older woman's chest, smiling in pleasure as she felt the fabric of Elsa's shirt against her cheek and the warmth of the skin beneath. Elsa, despite how good she felt, was nervous. Was Anna expecting something from her out of this? Elsa self-consciously moved a bit to adjust Anna's legs and then fell still, looking down at the redhead who was draped peacefully across her. Elsa took a slow, steady breath, then leaned forward, pressing her face into Anna's soft locks of red hair. Anna paused for a moment, then giggled happily, allowing Elsa to do what she wished. Elsa kissed the crown of Anna's head and gently nuzzled her forehead.

Anna moved forward and kissed Elsa's nose and pressed her forehead against Elsa's. Both women closed their eyes and relied on touch from then on, wanting to make the other as happy as possible. Anna brushed her lips against Elsa's and smiled gently. Elsa opened one eye to see the smiling face of Anna and her heart thudded in her chest as she lifted a hand to rest on the back of Anna's head, moving her forward. Elsa saw Anna's mouth part slightly, ready to receive her kiss…

"Hey guys," said Rapunzel sticking her head into the bedroom just as the two were about to kiss, "Dinner's re-ready...Holy shit." Anna, not understanding what had happened, was lifted off of Elsa as the older woman jumped into action. Anna, without noticing Rapunzel standing in the doorway, grabbed her phone and texted Elsa, "You don't want a kiss?"

Elsa blushed heatedly and stuttered out excuses to Rapunzel who had her arms crossed in the doorway, managing to look both surprised, and angry.

"I'm sorry, Punzy, I would've checked with you to see if it was okay with you before doing anything…I-I mean I didn't mean to make you angry or anything. We...well...yeah we just kind of…"

Anna's eyes focused in on Rapunzel then and pieced two and two together, her mouth slowly dropping open. Rapunzel shook her head and put a stray piece of hair behind her ear, saying something so quickly Anna couldn't understand.

"I'm fine with it. I was just a bit surprised that you two were…doing that sort of thing."

"Oh GOD thank you." Elsa said in relief, "Again, I apologize."

"Come get dinner."

Elsa nodded and checked her phone quickly while getting off the bed, and nearly fell off when she read the message. Anna remained on the bed looking massively confused and disappointed. Elsa gripped her phone in her hand and bit her lip nervously, looking at the door, then back at Anna…

"Ohh, OKAY FINE." Elsa grumbled, leaning over the bed towards Anna and closing her eyes, pointing to lips. She might as well get one small kiss. Anna jumped excitedly and reached forward, taking Elsa's face in her hands. She tilted her head and pressed her lips against Elsa's.

Both of them didn't expect the fireworks. Anna and Elsa both jumped back in surprise upon the unexpected shock and Elsa immediately retaliated with moving forward and capturing Anna's lips with her own again. Anna's eyes slammed shut and her arms went around Elsa's neck. Both minds went completely blank in the next few moments and the only thing either of them could focus on was the fact that they had to get as much of this in as they could before going to dinner. Anna had to tear herself away from the barista and shake her head rapidly, telling the older girl they would possibly be murdered by her cousin if they were caught.

Elsa bit her bottom lip as she stood slowly, slightly out of it. Anna stared up at her, looking adorable. Elsa rubbed the back of her neck and shook her head muttering, "Damn it!" Anna slid off of the bed and roughly pushed Elsa out of the door for she knew that the consequences would be harsh.

As the three ate dinner in silence, Rapunzel looked at Elsa harshly from across the table, Anna looked in between the both of them awkwardly, and Elsa was shrinking into her seat more the longer Rapunzel stared at her. Anna, as much as she wanted Elsa to stay, knew that she couldn't help herself if she did and Rapunzel would have a fit.

"Uh…" Elsa began to say, but Anna held up her hand to cut her off. She pulled out her phone and texted her something privately. Elsa looked down at the phone in her lap and read: "After dinner I think you need to go home. Punzy's getting that tense look again."

"Yeah." Elsa said to Anna and they both nodded.

"What?" Rapunzel asked accusingly at Elsa and Elsa held up her hands innocently while Anna gave her a look that said, 'please relax, Rapunzel, everything is fine.' But that didn't stop Rapunzel from glaring at Elsa for the rest of the meal. After they all finished their dinner, Anna asked Rapunzel to take Elsa home. Her cousin reluctantly agreed and the three of them walked out the door to Rapunzel's mustang.

After a long, awkwardly silent car ride, they reached Elsa's home and as Elsa exited the car with a quick, hasty, goodbye to Rapunzel, Anna got out of the car to give Elsa a quick hug, then a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight." Anna whispered in Elsa's ear, timidly, unsure of herself, and Elsa, hearing her voice for the very first time, smiled as wide as she possibly could holding onto her tighter.

"Goodnight." Elsa replied, kissing Anna's forehead and leaving her at her car to walk to her front door. She paused and waved to Anna who waved back. As the barista walked inside, she was met by Olaf who ran to her and greeted her with a large hug. Sven came tearing out from the living room and tackled Elsa out the door and onto the porch where he continued to lick her face furiously.

Anna, watching, laughed and waved to Olaf before getting into her cousin's car and Rapunzel nearly tore out of the driveway to get onto the road.

"Was that her?" Olaf asked, slightly dreamy.

"Yes, why?" Elsa asked, trying very hard to get Sven off of her.

"She's gorgeous."

Elsa smiled and shoved Sven off, then stood and ruffled her brother's hair, smiling.

"Come on. Let's get you some dinner."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks to all who reviewed, liked and favorited this story. I really appreciate all your support :D I hope you enjoy the new chapter.**

"That's so awesome!" Elsa laughed as Anna nudged her playfully, laughing herself, "There's no freaking way you did that!"

Anna nodded and gestured quickly in sign language, "Yes! And then he came after me again with what he called chocolate fondue!"

"Chocolate fondue?" Elsa asked, scoffing, "What? Was this dude some kind of freak?"

"Obviously." Anna mouthed, making Elsa giggle.

As the two made their way through the park that evening, Anna pulled Elsa's hoodie closely around herself as the Autumn wind blew around them both. The young woman hadn't been able to take her eyes off of the taller woman as her gorgeous mane of platinum blonde hair was blown back in the breeze. Her piercing blue eyes shone in the low light of sunset and her stride, confident and steady, matched Anna's as the two walked alone together. They had met there at the local park about six hours before to have a picnic in the fresh air. It was after hours of laying together beneath a tree, talking to each other through gestures and texting had they agreed to take a walk. Once they began, they couldn't stop, and they had walked for hours. Anna spoke to Elsa through sign language and Elsa spoke though part sign language and speaking aloud.

Elsa loved that Anna was enjoying herself so much. Anna had said only a few minutes prior to their present conversation that her cheeks were sore from Elsa making her smile so much. The simple statement made Elsa so happy she could barely contain herself. Knowing that she could make someone smile so much their cheeks hurt was ground breaking for a person who had been alone for the most part of her life. The barista had taken a day off from work that day just for Anna and had enjoyed every moment of it. With the combination of the fresh cool air, Anna's company, and the warm feeling of her affection toward the young woman in her chest, it was safe to say that Elsa was possibly the happiest she had been in a long while.

Anna reached down and took Elsa's hand, brushing up against her, smiling sweetly.

Having spent time with Anna off and on for about a month or so, Elsa had reached a point where she wanted to spend even more time with her redhead crush. Even though they both knew they were attracted to one another, neither of them had come out and admitted it to each other openly. Rapunzel had said on multiple occasions to both of them that their sexual tension was absolutely unbearable. However, Olaf was a completely different story.

Olaf had taken a liking to Anna the very first time she came to visit Elsa at her house. The boy had brought the silent stranger into his room and he had talked to her animatedly, taking her up to his room and pointing at all the little things he was proud of that he had collected over the years. Since he lived a life of simple pleasures, he thought that the mud pie he made when he five, the key he found in the woods one day, and the peculiarly crushed can of soda that looked like a snowman was some of the most amazing things anyone could find. Anna, not understanding a word he was saying simply nodded, smiled, and made faces like she was very interested in all of his things. Elsa watched from the doorway with a smile on her face, happy as could be to see Anna and her brother getting along so well.

When Olaf lead Anna over to his bed and showed her his book, Anna took it front him and opened the first page, reading the title. As soon as she saw what book it was, she looked down at him and opened her mouth like she wanted to say something. She looked into Olaf's eyes and shut her mouth, turned to Elsa and snapped her fingers to break the barista out of the happy stupor she had fallen into. When the sharp click reached the barista's ears Elsa had jumped slightly and shook her head. Anna giggled and rolled her eyes, pulling Elsa over to her brother pulled out her phone and wrote her a text.

Elsa received it, read it, then smiled at the younger woman and turned to Olaf, reading it aloud for him to hear, "Anna says this is one of her favorite books and she knows in by heart."

That alone was reason enough for Olaf to like her sister's love interest.

Unfortunately, the two had less and less time to see each other as time went on. Elsa was always exhausted on the weekends due to her tedious work schedule so Anna knew that the barista needed as much rest as she could get. Elsa had doubled her time at her job at the mall, working almost until twelve o'clock at night, and on top of that, she had to get onto her bicycle and pedal all the way home at the end of every shift. She did the same routine every day, every night, all except for Saturday. That was the one day when she would get the night off to rest. Anna had a battle with herself every Saturday, trying to decide whether or not she should go and visit Elsa or let her rest…oftentimes she let Elsa rest, but every once in a while she would drop by to say hello.

Elsa, as she walked Anna through the park, began to yawn tiredly. Anna noticed immediately and said in sign language, "Why don't we head home now…you need to rest."

"No. I'm fine." Elsa said, stretching her arms above her head and moaning quietly, then resting her right arm around Anna's shoulders pulling her close. Anna looked up at Elsa who tried to hide her yawn but succeeded in only making Anna prod even more. Anna put her hand to Elsa's chest stopping her. Anna stood in front of the blond and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh, you're putting your foot down now, eh?" Elsa chuckled.

Anna gestured quickly, "Don't make me drag you back to the car."

"Hmm." Elsa hummed, reached forward and taking Anna's hands, "Okay, freckles."

Anna narrowed her eyes, looking at Elsa's mouth, processing what she had just said. Then her eyes widened slightly and a grin tugged at her lips. She slid her arms around Elsa's waist and rested her head on her shoulder. Elsa hugged her back and set her cheek on the top of Anna's head, smiling, and shutting her eyes, listening to her own heart beat pound and the sounds of the birds singing around the two of them in the still of sunset.

"HEY YOU GUYS!" came a scream from the bushes.

"HEYYY!"

Elsa looked up from the hug in surprise, watching with slight disappointment as Rapunzel, followed by Olaf, tumbled out of the bushes holding the basket and blanket the two had left back at their tree. Elsa rested a hand on Anna's chin and lifted her head to face her. She was met by two turquoise eyes full of adoration…

Elsa giggled in embarrassment and kissed her nose quickly then pointed to the two figures rapidly approaching them. Anna looked massively disappointed from the mere nose kiss, then turned her head to see her cousin and Olaf walking quickly toward them. Olaf set the blanket on the basket Rapunzel was carrying, then charged toward both girls who got on their knees and opened their arms for him. He jumped into Elsa's arm's first, but pulled Anna into a group hug where he hugged both of them tightly together, leaving Rapunzel to watch, tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for the three to finish.

Anna planted a kiss on the top of Olaf's shaggy head of blonde hair in greeting and as she, with Elsa, stood, the little man lifted his arms for Anna to pick him up. Anna obliged and reached down, then hoisted Olaf up over head to where he sat on her shoulders. She made a trumpet noise and Olaf shouted, "TO THE CAR! CHAAAARGE!" And Anna took off running.

Elsa and Rapunzel laughed gently as they watched the two run off toward the car. Elsa rubbed the back of her neck and said, "Sorry to stick you with babysitting duty, Punzy...but I really do appreciate it."

"Not a problem." Rapunzel said, handing Elsa the basket and towel to carry, "The kid's much more mature than I thought he was. You've raised him well."

"He's a good kid." Elsa smiled, watching as Anna ran around bushes and trees, laughing with her brother as he lifted his arms above his head, shouting with joy, "I believe it has nothing to do with me. It's all the hard, honest work he's been doing, and living a life of simple pleasures. I've noticed that children with everything constantly want more and are never happy with what they have but, Olaf…" she looked at Rapunzel and said with a grin, "He's the happiest kid in the world and he has absolutely nothing to his name."

Rapunzel took a moment to watch Anna and Olaf as they ran through the park then said, "You're a good person, Elsa."

The barista looked at Rapunzel out of the corner of her eye then said, "Thank you." very softly, glad to feel somewhat accepted from the brunette. The two walked in silence, side by side, until they reached the car. Anna helped Olaf off of her shoulders and set him in the back seat, sliding in beside him. Rapunzel got into the driver's seat while Elsa got into the passenger's side beside Rapunzel who turned on the car and revved then engine.

"Hey sis!" Olaf called from the back seat, pressing his feet up against the back of Elsa's car seat, "Did you see us? We went so fast!"

"Yes, Olaf I saw! It won't be long before you're able to go horseback riding on a real horse at the farm down the road!"

"I won't have to ride on your or Anna shoulders anymore!" he laughed, "But...even if I do start to ride real horses, you have to promise to give me rides on your shoulders still, okay?"

"Sure thing, bud." Elsa said, turning around in her seat to speak to her brother and Anna, who was watching Olaf with a loving smile on her face, "I'll give you rides until you're too big to sit on my shoulders, okay?"

Olaf nodded and turned to Anna. The redhead bent down to hear what the boy had to say. then said, "Thanks for making my sister so happy, Anna."

Anna pushed her glasses up and mouthed the words, "Your welcome." Then she turned to cast a loving gaze to Elsa who returned it in the same manner. Olaf looked between the two with joy in his heart and Rapunzel kept her eyes fixed on the road, willing one of them to say something, anything that would give away their already obvious love for one another, but Elsa smiled and turned around when Anna sent her a text. Rapunzel waited for Elsa to start blushing at the text, hoping it was a proclamation of Anna's attraction to her, but all Elsa did was smile slightly and reply.

Rapunzel and Olaf shared a quick glance, wordlessly thinking the same thing, then they both sighed loudly and Elsa looked at Rapunzel suspiciously for a fleeting moment before she received a new text from Anna. The two talked the entire way back to Elsa's home and as Rapunzel dropped Elsa off, Anna hopped out and hugged Olaf goodbye, placing a kiss on his cheek which he immediately shied away from, but smiled all the same. Then she stood and turned to Elsa who opened her arms for a hug. Rapunzel watched from inside the car as her dear cousin wrapped her arms around Elsa's neck, then kissed her goodnight.

Rapunzel bit her bit her tongue, forcing herself not to interrupt the two. Anna was happy, Elsa was happy, who was she to intrude? As Anna let go and Elsa squeezed her tightly one more time, both of them wished each other a good night, before Anna opened the passenger's side seat and sat down inside. She waved to Elsa again and Elsa waved to her as Rapunzel rolled out of the driveway. As soon as Elsa and her brother were out of sight, Anna laid back against the seat and sighed dreamily, gesturing with one hand:

"She's perfect."

Elsa's arm dropped to her side and she sighed deeply, watching the white mustang drive away down the road. The siblings stood together in silence for a few seconds before Olaf sat down in the grass beside his sister and laid back, putting his hands behind his head and smiling up at the slowly dimming sky.

"Elsa," he asked, "could we sit outside and look at the stars tonight?"

"I think that would be an awesome way to end today." Elsa replied gently, laying back on the grass beside him, following his gaze to look into the sky. As the stars grew brighter as the sun set entirely, both the siblings watched in hushed silence. Then the silence was broken when Olaf pointed out the big and little dipper. He then pointed out the twins in the sky and Elsa pointed out the Andromeda constellation. Both of them, on warm summer nights in summers past, had taken time to chart the stars and find the constellations in the night sky. Since they were decently out into the forest, away from any city lights, the both of them could see the stars clearly.

"It's like you could fall into them." Olaf sighed, lifting his hand upwards, reaching out.

"Yeah." Elsa said softly, closing her eyes and listening to the crickets and sounds of the forest around her. She lay still as the leaves blew in the wind, the sounds of night creatures stirring in the bushes...and most importantly, she began to remember the wonderful sound of Anna's gentle giggles. Elsa smiled involuntarily and opened her eyes slowly to stare up into the void above her...

"Oh gosh it's getting cold." Olaf said, sitting up and hugging himself, "Let's get inside and get under blankets, okay? Can you read to me before bed please?"

"Sure thing." Elsa replied, sitting up and getting to get to her feet, "Let's go…but first, let's see how much you've saved up for this month." Olaf smiled and took his big sister's hand as she lead him inside. They were met immediately by Sven who greeted them both with sloppy licks and lots of jumping and barking. Elsa, shoving past their dog, shook her head and let her brother calm him down.

If we had any kind of money to spend on this sort of thing, I'd definitely get a behavior trainer on his butt." Elsa said to Olaf who ordered the dog to sit down five times before he finally understood the command and unceremoniously flopped on the ground. Olaf rolled his eyes and crossed the room to meet his sister in the kitchen. Elsa took the jar down from the countertop and emptied the contents onto the table, counting the money silently while Olaf sat by eagerly awaiting the end results.

"You've raised about 40 dollars, Olaf!" Elsa said excitedly, "God damn!"

"Swear." Olaf warned.

"Sorry."

"How much are the thingies worth again?"

"About $45,000 just for the implants…then the surgical procedure would cost about…hmm…$8,000 or so. So in total we would need something like $53,000."

"We can do it!" Olaf said immediately without any kind of hesitation, "How much do you have from work?"

"Around $500." Said Elsa excitedly, "So we have $540 already! We're getting somewhere! Good job, Olaf…now let's go and get you into bed." Olaf took a few moments to smile at the money he had worked so hard for before charging up the stairs for his beloved nightly story session. Elsa smiled and put the money back into the jar, then set it up on the counter, placing her hand on the side of it, sighing slowly. She knew that 540 dollars wasn't getting them anywhere in a hurry. It was nothing compared to $53,000. However, it was still a big amount and they could do a lot of things with the money that would benefit the both of them...but both siblings wanted to do this act of kindness for Anna more than they realized.

As Elsa began to walk up the stairs to read to her brother, Anna flopped down into her own bed and curled up with her pillow in her arms. The young woman began to smile broadly remembering Elsa's bright smile and warm touch. Anna flashed to the moment not a few hours ago when Elsa had picked her a rose from the park. She then flashed to Elsa's piercing, beautiful eyes, and...her undoubtedly warm voice. Anna had tried to imagine what Elsa would sound like and so far she hadn't found a voice she could stick with. She was perfectly content with making up many different loving sounding voices for the barista.

Rapunzel, who wanted to get into bed as soon as possible, stopped outside Anna's door to wish her a goodnight. As she looked at the young woman who was curled around her pillow, her eyes squeezed tight, smiling as wide as she could, the older woman smiled slightly, then shut the door.

Elsa, when she had finished reading to Olaf, she leaned down and placed a kiss on his temple and wished him a goodnight. She then crawled down the stairs as quietly as she could and crossed the living room and kitchen before turning down the hallway to reach her bedroom. She crashed into her bed and didn't even bother changing out of her clothes from that day, she was simply too tired. As soon as her head hit the pillow, Elsa was out.

* * *

The next morning, Elsa slowly rolled out of bed and rubbed her eyes, lifting her head to look at herself in the vanity. she paused a moment to smile instead of frowning critically at her reflection as she usually did. She then picked out her outfit for work and slipped on a t-shirt and jeans, all the while rubbing her eyes furiously, making an effort to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She picked up her phone to read a message sent from Anna that read, "Good morning, you! I'm a bit sick so I'm not able to come by today to see you…I think we spent too long outside yesterday and I caught a little bit of a cold. :( Have a good day at work though!"

Elsa clutched her phone to her chest as she walked slowly down the hallway and into the kitchen where she found Olaf already up and eating his breckfast. She leaned down, kissed him goodbye, and told him to have a good day.

"Thanks! Have a good day at work, sis!" Olaf called as Elsa rushed to the front door to slip on her shoes.

"Thanks, bud! Oh, the leaves are starting to fall now so people around here will want their lawns raked. It could get you come good money!"

"Cutting grass, and raking leaves are on my list of top ten chores to do." Olaf called to Elsa as she walked out the door, "See you later!"

Elsa rushed to her bike, replying to Anna, "You just rest as much as you can and get some sleep, fight off that cold with some soup and reading, okay? I'll text you after work."

Just as Elsa sent her message, Anna lazily rolled over in her bed to grab the book that was laying on her bedside table. Rapunzel bustled inside with a bowl of soup, setting it on Anna's nightstand, leaning over her younger cousin and checking her temperature by pressing her lips to Anna's forehead. Rapunzel sighed, "You're warm…" then rushed from the room to get the thermometer. Anna knew that Rapunzel had to get to work and was putting it off as long as she could to take care of her. The brunette returned to the room and ordered Anna to put the thermometer in her mouth. the younger woman took a moment to gesture, "You need to get to work! I'll be okay until you get back." before taking the thermometer into her mouth and crossing her arms.

Rapunzel didn't respond to Anna until the temperature was done registering. Relieved to see that her temperature was only slightly above normal, she sighed, then said in sign language, "if you need anything, you call me without hesitation okay?"

Anna made the okay sign with her hand and laid back on her bed, thanking her cousin for her soup. Rapunzel nodded, then left the room, pausing at the door a moment to smile at Anna apologetically before she left. Then, Anna fully settled back onto her pillows and took her book, turning to the page she had left off on.

Elsa filled the orders she received one by one. One by one she smiled and took orders, calling out people's names according to their drinks, doing her job as best as she could. She blended up drink after drink, letting the day run it's course, letting the time pass her by as she worked. Little did the barista know, there was a CEO that was observing her from the far booth in the back of the store. Elsa worked well and to the best of her ability, using her desire to make a better life for her and her brother along with her desire to make money for Anna's implants as a drive to do her very best, nothing less. Reaching the end of her shift, she glanced up at the clock, wiped her brow with her forearm and moved into the back room where she took off her apron and ran her fingers through her mane of blonde hair.

The CEO, out in the store side, tucked her laptop into its carrying case, stood, and crossed the room to walk into the break room. Elsa stopped folding her apron and stood to meet the woman as she approached.

"Hello there." The CEO said, "My name is Megara Evans from the Starbucks main offices. I've been hearing a lot of good things about you from your fellow employees and your manager alike. You seem to fit the qualifications we're looking for in the department of management."

Elsa's jaw dropped.

Anna, meanwhile, was texting Olaf about Elsa and her work situation. Olaf was going on and on about how Elsa and how she wanted to work as hard as she could so she could make a better life for him and her. Anna as she received each text from him, thought that Olaf admiring his big sister so much was the single cutest thing she ever saw.

"I'm sure she's a cool big sister, huh?" Anna texted.

"The coolest!" Olaf replied as he was laying in bed with Sven at his side, still and sleeping, "She plays games with me, reads to me, plays with me, hugs me a lot, and she always makes sure I'm okay…she's basically the best sister on the planet."

Anna smiled at the phone and texted back, "You're a very lucky kid, Olaf."

"I know." the boy replied, "I'm really, really happy that Elsa found someone like you to be in love with."

Anna's cheeks colored and she giggled freely.

Suddenly, both Olaf and Anna received a text from Elsa at the same time that read, "GUESS WHAT! I'M A FREAKING MANAGERRR!"

Olaf nearly fell out of bed and Anna sat up so quickly her head spun for a moment. Elsa, as both her brother and crush began to text her back excitedly about the latest development in her job, was pedaling home as fast as she could. As she Reached the house, she didn't even bother to set her bike up against the tree in her front yard. She simply hopped off of it, letting it skid to the ground. She texted Anna excitedly about her new raise and she barged through the door shouting, "OLAAAF!"

The boy, hearing his sister was home, jumped off of his bed and ran down the stairs as fast as he could, nearly tripping down the stairs in the process.

"Oh my gosh you're a MANAGER!" Olaf shouted happily, jumping from the bottom stair and into Elsa's arms, "You get a raise!?"

"Yes!" Elsa said excitedly, "My pay has raised about five dollars!"

"NO WAY!" Olaf shouted in disbelief, hugged her tighter. Elsa took a moment to text Anna, then went back to squeezing her brother until he gasped for air.

"I'm still working my job at the mall though." Elsa put in.

"Awww, man." Olaf sighed, losing his excitement for a split second before perking up again immediately, "I'm still so happy!"

"So am I!" Elsa said, snapping her fingers, "Tell you what! How about you and me go out in a few minutes and visit Anna to celebrate with her?"

"That would be awesome!" Olaf said excitedly, "I've been keeping her company by testing her. She's been all by herself."

"Well she won't be for much longer!" Elsa said, setting her little bother down and telling him to get his shoes.

Anna, in bed, although tired, was bouncing involuntarily up and down. She was unbelievably happy for Elsa. She knew that all the blonde wanted was to make a better life for herself and Olaf and she was doing it on her own like the amazing person she was.

"I'm so happy for you, Elsa!" Anna typed to the barista, "You have no clue how proud I am too!"

Elsa, as she was pedaling down the highway with Olaf behind her, smiled at the text and replied, "Thanks, Anna, just knowing your happy for me means a lot. Now, have you been by yourself all day since Punzy's gone?"

"Yes." Anna typed, "but I've been doing alright. All I really need is some rest and I'll be good to go."

Elsa typed back, "You also need to eat and have a bit of company to sit through the worst of it with. :) Olaf and I wanted to come and see you so we're on our way! Give us maybe ten minutes."

"Oh Jeez you're taking your bikes all the way up here!" Anna texted worriedly.

"Hey, it's totally fine." Elsa replied, "We WANT to come see you."

Anna pushed her glasses up her nose and smiled in her bed, then continued to text Elsa until she arrived. She grinned once her bedroom door swung open to reveal Elsa standing alongside her brother, both with big smiles, happy to see her.

"Hey!" Anna mouthed, smiling, opening her arms for a hug.

Elsa didn't hesitate for a moment. She crossed the room in three strides and enveloped the younger girl in a gentle hug, then backed away and let her brother give Anna a loose hug.

"So how are you doing?" Elsa asked in sign language. Anna smiled and made an okay sign. Elsa sighed in relief then sat down on Anna's bedside, holding her hand and smiling affectionately. Olaf clambered up to sit beside her and the three exchanged silent smiles for a few moments before Elsa took out her phone and texted, "I was a bit worried about you all day. I didn't know if you were deathly ill or just a little bit sick because, knowing you, you could be on your deathbed and you would still say you were fine."

Anna chuckled and rolled her eyes, then typed back, "Be that as it may, it's just a simple little cold. Nothing serious. Enough about me, tell me about your work situation! You're a manager now!"

Elsa smiled excitedly and texted, "Yeah! A CEO had been observing me and everything turned out awesomely…but more importantly do you need anything?"

Anna paused, squeezed Elsa's hand, then said aloud, unsure of herself, but wanting to get her point across, "I'm fine."

A chill trailed down Elsa's spine and Olaf stopped playing with the seams on the bed sheets. Both siblings looked up at Anna who smiled a genuine loving smile.

For hours, Elsa and Olaf kept Anna company. They took her out into the living room after an hour of simply having a discussion on Anna's bedroom where the three of them sat together, deciding on what movie to watch together. As soon as they all came to a compromise, Anna suggested they all get snacks. Olaf got so excited he rushed ahead of Elsa and Anna into the kitchen where he opened the fridge to look around. He had never seen so much food in his life. It was simply stocked full of things both he and Elsa absolutely loved. Anna told them to have at it and she watched with fascination as the two of them began looking through the fridge and pantry, finding things they hadn't had in years.

"Oreos?" Olaf gasped, pulling out the package and holding it to his chest, "ELSA! Oreos!"

Elsa pulled out an apple from the fridge and bit into it then walked around the counter to take Anna by the waist, guiding her back over to the couch where the two sat down together, Olaf sitting down on the floor with his Oreos. As Elsa began the movie, Olaf was instantly transfixed on the television (since he didn't have the luxury of watching TV at his own house). Elsa smiled slowly as she felt Anna's head resting on her chest. She put her arm around Anna's shoulders, smiling gently as she snuggled up to her.

Soon the two women's attention diverted to the television, then slowly back to their position. Anna reached down and rubbed Elsa's knee lightly and Elsa, watching curiously, let the younger girl run her hand down her leg, letting Anna feel the well-toned muscles underneath smooth as porcelain skin.

Anna moved closer still and Elsa grew limp underneath her. Then Anna lifted her head slowly and pressed her lips to Elsa's neck. There was a rush down Elsa's spine and she tilted her neck involuntarily to the right to allow Anna better access. Anna rested a hand on Elsa's chest and continued to kiss the barista's throat, pausing every now and again to teasingly bite the sensitive flesh, then soothe it with a warm tongue. Elsa bit her own tongue to avoid gasping since her brother would turn around if he heard anything from either of them. But even if he did, both women were sure he wouldn't understand what they were doing. He was too fascinated by what was on the screen anyway so he remained still as stone.

Elsa lifted a hand to brush her fingers through Anna's soft hair and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Her eyes slid shut and she gave over to the sweet sensations as Anna continued to suck gently on her neck…then Anna bit down especially hard and Elsa whispered, "Ahh!" then lowered her head to brush her cheek against Anna's and whisper against her ear, "Easy."

Anna then lifted her head, then whispered, unsurely into Elsa's ear aloud, "I've marked you."

Elsa turned a dark shade of red upon hearing Anna's softly spoken words and she lifted a hand to touch the slightly stinging mark left by Anna. The innocent girl's teal eyes shone and she smiled. Elsa only stared for a moment longer before she leaned forward and went to do the same thing to Anna but then the front door opened and Rapunzel walked in looking tired and worried. She kicked her shoes off then turned and saw the spectacle, stopping in her tracks to smile. Anna and Elsa, having seen Rapunzel in the doorway before they could get caught, moving away from each other in sync, settling into a position to where it looked like they hadn't been doing something sketchy. Anna sneezed lightly and Elsa patted her back, remembering that Anna had been sick.

"So I guess you guys have been hanging out for a while." Rapunzel said, walking into the kitchen and setting her bag down on the kitchen table.

Anna jumped sharply and moved to grab her phone. She texted Rapunzel and once she got the text, she paused where she stood, her mouth dropped open slightly and she lifted her head to smile at Elsa who shrugged and grinned.

"Nice job!" Rapunzel said, giving a thumbs up, "Never thought you could achieve something like that."

Elsa and Anna took a moment to stare at her awkwardly before she said, "I'm just kidding."

Elsa smiled at Anna who just shrugged her shoulders and then gestured to Olaf who had rested his head against her leg. He looked very tired so Elsa made the decision to take him home. Elsa mouthed to Anna, "I'm going to take him home, okay?"

Anna nodded, then waited until Rapunzel wasn't looking to quickly kiss Elsa on the lips. Anna then waited until Elsa was bent over, shaking her brother lightly, telling him to get ready...then she slipped a hand up Elsa's shirt, unclipping her bra in record time. Elsa pressed a hand to her chest, keeping her bra in place, forcing herself back against the couch where she remained like that for a few moments, frozen, refusing to look at the smug redhead who flashed a striking grin.

"Why would you do that!" Elsa whispered as Rapunzel rooted through the refrigerator in the kitchen absentmindedly, not taking notice to what was going on in the living room.

"Because I felt like teasing you." Anna mouthed back.

Elsa's mouth dropped slowly and she stared into the younger woman's teal eyes that sparkled with sudden desire. The older woman bit her lip and began to feel a desire burning down below. The longer she stared at her lovers deliciously shaped lips, her desire only grew stronger. Her mouth grew wet and the releasing feeling of her breasts being unbound from her bra felt wonderful…

"So are you two gonna head home soon?" Rapunzel broke into the two women's heated focus on one another.

"*Ahem!* Hmm… Yeah!" Elsa said, awkwardly pressing her back against the couch and stealthily clipping her bra back up before standing helping Olaf to his feet. Anna stopped staring and lowered her head to the floor where she pouted softly and Elsa balked a moment. She turned and bent down, taking Anna's chin, lifting her head and placing a feather light kiss on her lips. Anna closed her eyes and kissed Elsa back mimicking her light peck and she smiled lovingly as they both opened their eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Elsa said gently, cupping Anna's cheek in her hand, "Get some rest, okay?"

Anna nodded, then tilted her head into Elsa's palm. Elsa smiled one last time at Anna, then stood and took Olaf to the door where he turned and waved to Anna gently. She waved back and Elsa wished Rapunzel a goodbye before ushering her brother outside and out onto their bikes.

Anna rushed to the door and waved goodbye to the both of them as they started off down the road and just before they pedaled out of sight, Elsa turned and waved, smiling gently back to Anna who blew a kiss, waved, then shut the door.

"Smooth." Olaf commented smugly.

"Hush." Elsa giggled, "Come on. Let's go get you some ice cream."


	5. Chapter 5

For two weeks after their time at the park, Elsa worked hard and as best as she could at her job as Manager. The raise had provided excellent amounts of progress in her goal to get money for Anna's implants. In the two weeks she had been working as a manager and a custodian at the mall every other day, she had gathered half the money she had raised in a month. Fortunately, Elsa's job at the mall had been cut short when she was offered a job as a farm hand on the weekends that paid the entirety of the money she raised by working every other day at the mall by working three short days on jobs that the farmer and his son couldn't finish alone. Olaf and she were able to eat better and as the days went by, Elsa became more relaxed. She was able to spend a bit more time with her brother and they were able to buy new bikes with the help of Anna and Rapunzel who so generously volunteered to help the two with transportation as often as they could.

Elsa and Anna, every lunchtime, ate together at the booth beside the window in Starbucks as soon as Elsa got off of work. Anna would bring special treats like Oreos or extra chunky peanut butter for Olaf to eat when Elsa was able to get home, and Elsa would always have a cup of Anna's favorite coffee pre-ordered and paid for by putting her own money in the cash register. The two women, day by day, would sit and talk, smiling and laughing. Elsa had fully learned sign language by then and had begun talking with only that when she was around Anna. Anna felt like sharing everything with Elsa and she felt no need to hold back anything.

By the time Elsa and Anna had achieved fully trust in one another, the barista had, one day, sat down with Anna and asked her what it was like not to hear. Anna had thought for a very long time about her question and in the end, she put her hands over Elsa's ears putting Elsa into complete silence. Elsa's eyes had half closed as Anna moved very close and whispered, "Like this, but always."

Elsa had held Anna's hands over her ears and had smiled comfortingly, thinking about how wonderful it would be when Anna first received her implants. Elsa then asked, "If you had a choice, what would be one thing you would want to hear?"

Anna then thought for a long time again and then mouthed the words, "Your voice."

Elsa then squeezed Anna's hands tightly and fought to say, "You will…someday." But it never left her lips and her secret was kept safe. Many days, Elsa would absentmindedly put her hands over her ears and walk around the house, hearing nothing and wondering what it would be like to go through life that way. Olaf would do the same, influenced by Anna more than she knew. Anna had made an impact on the siblings that they all didn't realize. Both Elsa and Olaf were happier, kinder, they laughed more, and worked harder every day to achieve what they wanted for Anna.

In the past two weeks, Olaf had done his part and had raked and cut the grass of twice as many yards as he had done in fall's past. He had made sure he had done a good job and for his efforts, he was given a few extra dollars from a few generous people. Every evening, he placed a bit more money in the jar for the implants and every once in a while he would put three fourths of the money he had earned from his days work in for Anna. Every once in a while, the siblings had spent time together by doing jobs around the neighborhood together, earning them both near 60 dollars in total...30 to 40 of those dollars went into the jar atop of Elsa's already earned money.

It had been the day of Elsa's second week of work that she was surprised by a visit from Rapunzel in the stead of Anna. Rapunzel waited in line, awkwardly catching Elsa's curious eye more than once, then, finally reaching the barista, she ordered regular black coffee (something Elsa didn't know they had) then sat down and waited for Elsa's shift to end. When the barista got off of work she emerged hesitantly from the back room and sat down in front of Rapunzel, greeting her formally.

"Relax." Rapunzel said, "It's just me." She then took a long sip of her coffee.

"I'm just surprised to see you here instead of Anna…" said Elsa, "Is everything okay?"

"Anna's completely fine, she's still sleeping. She stayed up late last night texting you and she decided to take the day off. She told me to tell you she'll be over at your house later today to visit. Now. Why I came over here is because…" she took another long, drawn out sip off her coffee and Elsa did as well.

"I wanted to know when you're going to ask her out on a date?"

Elsa nearly spit out her coffee.

"We…well I mean I." Elsa stuttered, "I don't really plan on…what I mean is-"

"You don't need to deny that you like my cousin in front of me anymore, Elsa." Rapunzel said, reaching forward and resting a hand atop of Elsa's to silence the blonde, "I've taken some time to think about it and I've come to the conclusion that you two are obviously good for one another. I trust you to take care of my cousin. I've been wanting to see how you're going to ask her out for a bit too long now and I think you guys have gone far beyond the status of being just 'friends'."

Elsa looked out the window and awkwardly thrummed her fingers on the tabletop.

"Elsa." Rapunzel said a bit louder, leaning forward in her seat, "Don't you think you've been holding out on her for a bit too long? Last night we were having a conversation about you and she told me that she wanted to go out with you alone on a nice, romantic date where it could be just the two of you..."

The barista grew still, stopped thrumming her fingers on the table, and looked at Rapunzel out of the corner of her eye. She saw the honesty in the woman's eyes, directed straight at her as she spoke. Elsa knew that Rapunzel wanted Anna to be the happiest that she could be and she knew that Rapunzel was taking time out of her day to come and speak to Elsa about something that she and Anna both wanted…it was only impolite to ignore her.

"I don't know, I'm just nervous." Elsa said in honesty.

"Nervous!" Rapunzel shouted laughingly, making Elsa jump, "You're NERVOUS. After spending nearly more than two months with the woman you're NERVOUS about asking her out on a date. You two have even kissed each other. More than once!"

"A date makes a statement." Elsa put in, sitting forward and folding her hands, "You have to understand that I'm in the middle of doing something very important for both you and Anna, and I don't want to make our relationship official until it's over and done."

At this, Rapunzel balked and her eyebrow arched. Elsa bit her lip and knew she had just done something she wish she hadn't done.

"What is this thing you're doing?" Rapunzel asked accusingly. As soon as Elsa began to say something along the lines of 'no way I'm telling you', the slightly older woman leaned forward and said in a very low voice, "if you want me to keep liking you, you're going to tell me about this 'important' thing you've got going on. And as you know, I'm a homicide detective in the force, so I'm going to know whether or not you're lying to me or not."

Elsa suddenly became extremely intimidated. She had never once asked Anna about Rapunzel's occupation. Suddenly knowing that she was something as impressive as a homicide detective was massively unsettling, not helping the situation at all.

"I-it's a…thing that I've been working on saving up money to buy for...about as long as I've known Anna."

"What is it?" Rapunzel asked roughly, her sharp, green eyes boring into Elsa's wide blue ones. Elsa gulped loudly, then opened her mouth to say something... She paused for a few moments, then pressed her lips together and shook her head, sitting back against the seat.

"Punzy I honestly feel like I'm being interrogated here!" said Elsa.

"I'm sorry." Rapunzel sighed, sitting back in her seat, pressing her fingers to her temples, massaging them in small circles "I'm just on a difficult case right now and I want to catch this dude before he kills anyone else."

"You're…on a serial killer case?" Elsa asked nervously.

"Yeah." Rapunzel replied, blinking tiredly, "Just a few hours ago, me and my partner found his third murder this week. The bastard keeps messing with us. The longer we wait, the longer we leave people at risk."

Elsa and Rapunzel stared at each other for a really long time.

"You didn't know I was a homicide detective, huh?" Rapunzel asked, smiling.

"No." Elsa replied, "And to be honest, I'm both really freaking impressed, and also really freaking scared about what you would do to me if I do anything you don't like from now on."

Rapunzel laughed lightly and shook her head, "I'm not going to arrest you for breaking up with my cousin if that does ever happen."

Elsa breathed out lightly.

"But you have to understand that I at least want to know what you're planning."

"Okay fine." Elsa sighed, and Rapunzel shifted in her seat while the barista remained silent for a little while, "You have to promise me that you can't ever tell Anna what I'm doing okay? It's extremely important she doesn't find out."

"Yeah."

"I...I've been saving up money to buy her a set of...cochlear implants."

As soon as the words left Elsa's lips, Rapunzel's eyes widened and her upper body froze up completely. Elsa leaned back against the booth and bit her bottom lip, waiting for a verbal response from the detective. Elsa watched in surprise as Rapunzel began to squint and her eyes shone with tears. The brunette lifted a hand and placed it over her mouth.

"…How much do you have so far?" she squeaked.

"Almost 1,000 dollars." Elsa replied steadily, watching a tear roll down Rapunzel's right cheek, "Both me and my brother put about half-or more- of our pay check and money we earn by doing jobs around our neighborhood into a savings account for Anna."

"How much do the implants cost?" Rapunzel asked, her voice sounding choked.

"$53,000." Elsa answered softly.

Rapunzel covered her eyes and breathed in sharply.

"I care for her, Rapunzel." Elsa said, leaning forward, "And at the beginning, I'll tell you that the implants were going to be a gift to make Anna like me…but now I want it to be a a gift for her benefit alone. I want her to hear again because she's expressed her want and desire to be able to hear to me before and I want to see her smile..."

Rapunzel remained very still in the same position, a few more tears rolling down her cheeks as she covered her eyes.

"I hope you approve of what me and my brother are doing." Elsa continued, "We can assure you that what we're doing is something we want to do more than anything."

Rapunzel stayed still for a few more minutes before she sat up and brushed away a few more tears as she said, "You have to forgive me."

"What for?"

"For me mistaking you for a woman who only wanted my cousin for her money."

Elsa looked at her lover's cousin for only a moment after hearing what she said, stood a moment later, turned and walked to the door. Rapunzel rushed after her and placed a hand on Elsa's shoulder, stopping the blonde in her tracks. Elsa shrugged Rapunzel off her shoulder and continued to walk outside where she waited for Rapunzel to meet her outside where they could continued their discussion in private.

"Listen!" Rapunzel said as she exited the store, "I know what I thought was wrong but for everything to be okay with both of us, you have to forgive me!"

"And you thought I wanted your cousin for MONEY?" Elsa asked in disbelief, "You thought I was faking the fact I love Anna? You actually thought I was faking a desire to be in a relationship all throughout our date at the mall after a few days we met? What about all the times she came to me at my work huh? Do you think I faked liking to see her? Did you think I didn't love and appreciate her all the times she came to see me at the house? What about all the time we spent together at the park a few weeks ago? You think I want her for money when I pedaled on my shitty little bike for nearly 15 minutes straight uphill to get to her because she had a little cold?!"

Rapunzel stood down and the barista stared at the cop for a long moment before sighing loudly and turning her back on her to walk around the side of the building. Rapunzel followed after, racking her brain, trying to think of something-anything to say that would make the situation better. Elsa grabbed her new, blue bike off the rack and got on the seat, gripping the handle bars. Before Rapunzel could stop her, Elsa turned around and said,

"I'm not some lowly, greedy whore."

"I KNOW you're not!" Rapunzel shouted, "I never thought you were! I just…"

"I'm MASSIVELY offended at the suggestion that you think I faked being in love with Anna for any reason."

The two women stared at one another for a long moment in which Rapunzel wordlessly begged for forgiveness and Elsa burned with anger. The barista let out a long huff, then began to pedal away, disappearing through the trees and leaving Rapunzel alone in the back parking lot, frustrated and furious with herself. Turning around and stomping to her car, Rapunzel sat down in the driver's seat and hurriedly texted Anna, "Have you left to go to Elsa's house yet, Anna?"

"Yeah Eugene just picked me up." was the reply.

Rapunzel sat back in her car seat, slamming her phone shut and throwing it against the window where it clattered down into the passenger's seat. She pressed her hands against her face for a long period of time in which all she could think of were ways she could apologize for offending Elsa. Rapunzel knew how much Anna really meant to Elsa by her sacrifice…and by saying something as stupid as she had…

Elsa pedaled through the woods quickly, taking the shortcut through the jagger bushes to get to her house. A few thorns cut her skin because she was moving too quickly but she just simply didn't care…She wanted to be home and with her brother. As she arrived at her house, Olaf was sitting on the porch playing with Sven. As soon as he saw his sister barrel out of the woods on her bike, he stood and began to run to her.

"Hey, Elsie!" he laughed, waving to her as she reached the little tent like area they put up to keep their bikes out of the rain, "Have a good day at work?"

Elsa tried to perk up and set back her shoulders to greet her brother but nothing could get past the young man. As she bent down to hug him, he noticed the hug wasn't as tight and strong as usual. He backed out of the hug and looked deeply into eyes identical to his own…

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"I know you're lying."

"How can you tell?"

"We're brother and sister. I can just TELL…you can tell when I'm lying too! How about the time when I lied about eating that entire jar of peanut butter and you could just TELL."

"You're a horrible liar." Elsa chuckled.

"So are you." Olaf shot back, "Now, what's the problem? Did something happen with Anna?"

"No it was something with Rapunzel." Elsa said, starting her way back to the house gesturing for Olaf to follow, "She said something about…how she thought that I was only in love with Anna because I wanted her money."

Olaf halted on the porch and narrowed his eyes as Elsa opened the door and looked over her shoulder saying, "I know right?"

"No wonder you're mad." Olaf sighed, following his sister as she walked inside, "Jeez."

"I kinda got mad and rode away from her to get here." Elsa continued as walked through the living room and into the kitchen where she pulled out an apple from the refrigerator and sat down at the table, running her fingers through her blonde hair, "Anna's gonna be coming by later so not a word out of you."

"Even if I did say something she won't be able to hear me anyway." Olaf said, sitting down on the floor beside her, resting his head on her leg,

Elsa covered her eyes for a moment, before taking another bite out of her apple. The two sat in silence for ten minutes, enjoying each other's company until there came a knock at the front door. It came twice, then Anna walked in without any introduction, crossed the space between her and Elsa, then threw her arms around Elsa's shoulders, pulling her into a big, warm hug that ended with a passionate kiss that lasted a few moments before Anna pulled away and said aloud, slightly more confidently, "How are you!"

"…I'm great!" Elsa replied as Anna licked her lips and giggled, recognizing the taste of an apple.

Then Anna stood very still, looking deeply into Elsa's eyes before mouthing the words, "Is something wrong?"

Both siblings looked at each other, Olaf with a smug smile and Elsa with an annoyed glance.

Elsa then took Anna's hand and helped her back into her bedroom where Anna had never been before. The redhead, upon entry, looked up and around for a moment before the scent hit her and she froze in her tracks. As Elsa sat down on her bedside she said, "Well, this is my room." Then she smiled up at Anna and waited for some kind of reply.

Anna moved slowly across the room to sit down on Elsa's lap and put her arms around her neck, pressing her lips to Elsa's cheek. And there they remained for a while. Elsa lifted her arms and placed then on Anna's waist and kissed her back. The two girls nuzzled each other and moved against one another until both felt satisfied. Anna laid her head down on Elsa's chest and held onto her hand telling her silently not to let go. Elsa gladly held onto Anna's hand and kissed her ear.

Olaf, watching silently from the doorway, grinned and moved away, walking down the hallway to take Sven by the scruff of his neck, pulling him outside.

Both women lifted their heads to gaze at the other and Anna mouthed, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, Anna." Elsa replied, moving closer and resting her forehead against Anna's. The two girls looked into each other's eyes and smiled, their hearts near to bursting with joy.

"H…hey." Elsa said and Anna nodded, "Would you like to go out this evening?"

Anna's eyes widened slightly upon Elsa's words and the barista chuckled, kissing her lover's face a few times before continuing, "I want to take you out on a date…"

The redhead's face grew beet red and she awkwardly shifted in Elsa's lap repositioning herself more comfortably. Elsa waited for a reply but all Anna did was stare. Elsa cocked her head to the side, wordlessly asking Anna what was wrong. The woman pushed up her glasses and silently moved away from Elsa off of the bed. Elsa made a grab for her wrist, caught it, and the look Anna gave the barista over her shoulder was nothing short of heartbreaking.

Anna said, through eye contact, clear as day, "Don't touch me."

And so Elsa did as Anna asked and let go of Anna's wrist. The younger woman walked to the other side of the room, sat down at Elsa's desk chair and crossed her arms over her chest, thinking very hard. The next moment, Anna turned to Elsa's computer and opened up a Microsoft word document, then began to type furiously. Elsa waited patiently until Anna was done before crossing the room to stand next to her with reasonable space between them.

The document said,

"I know you want to take me out, Elsa. And to be perfectly honest I want to go out with you too…more than anything. I really, really like you, okay? And I want you to know that. I want us to be together, but right now, unfortunately, something is going on between me and Rapunzel that prohibits us from having any kind of romantic relationship. Rapunzel is my guardian, sort of like my mom and caretaker. She's a police officer as well, part of the homicide detective unit. She's brilliant at figuring things out so we can barely hide anything from her. She simply doesn't like you touching me, kissing me, holding me or anything along those lines. I respect Rapunzel and as much as I want you and me to be together, but she just doesn't like me with you..."

And there Anna's words trailed off. Elsa stood very still for a few moments her heart breaking in two. She leaned down slowly and gently brushed Anna's hands away from the keyboard to type in reply,

"You asked me what was wrong...Earlier today, Rapunzel came by in your stead to the coffee shop and she asked me when I was going to ask you out…" Anna visibly shifted in the computer chair, "However, after a few more things said in a discussion between the two of us, she told me that she though I only liked you for your money."

At this, Anna sat up very straight and looked at the computer screen in disbelief. She sat down again and pushed Elsa away, typing on the keyboard harshly,

"Why would she say that?! You've never asked me for any kind of money before. Normally, you refuse the offer for money in any circumstance and have never…"

Anna looked up at Elsa who had her head lowered and her eyes squeezed shut.

The redhead stood, put her arms around Elsa, and hugged her closely for a few minutes, pressing her face into the crook of Elsa's neck. Elsa hugged Anna back and held her tightly. Anna loved how strong the taller woman felt…

"I'm sorry." Anna said, muffled into Elsa's shirt. In response, the barista clung to Anna tighter and placed her hand on Anna's back. Anna lifted her head after a few moments to capture Elsa's lips with her own and the two softly kissed in the solitude and silence of Elsa's room. Tenderly, Anna moved Elsa toward the bed and Elsa sat down lightly, pulling Anna into her lap.

Anna's kisses were nothing short of hypnotic and Elsa was instantly drawn in. Elsa tasted like coffee, and Anna loved it. Her tongue prodded for entrance into Elsa's mouth and the blonde allowed her in without hesitation. Both women continued to kiss each other passionately until there was a loud knock at the door. When Elsa shifted slightly upon the sound, breaking their kiss, both women realized that they had moved into a position where Elsa had her back rested up against the headboard of her bed and Anna had been rubbing her leg up against Elsa's. Anna had guided Elsa's hand to her bottom where it remained until both women noticed. Anna and Elsa slightly jumped away from each other, smiling, blushing, and giggling awkwardly. They both felt so giddy that they forgot all about the knock at the door.

When the knock came again, Elsa lifted her head and gestured in sign language, "Someone's at the door."

Anna smiled and nodded, then watched Elsa run from the room to get the door. She lay back luxuriously across the pillows and waited patiently for Elsa to return so they could continue their time together.

Elsa ran out to the front door, praying it wasn't Rapunzel, but when she opened the door, who stood on the porch was much worse.

"HEY!" cried Kristoff, waving happily and barging in, leaving Elsa completely speechless, "You got any peanut butter?"

"KRISTOFF!" Elsa screamed in fury, "What the hell are you doing here! You can't just drop by announced!"

"Hey," Kristoff laughed, sticking his head in the pantry, "Where's your hospitality?"

"Obviously nonexistent at the moment, because I already have company! Take the peanut butter, and get out!"

Kristoff sighed and pulled out the peanut butter jar, then grabbed a spoon and stood in front of Elsa, saying, "I go out of my way to drive by to say hey to my cousins and apologize for my short visit last time I was here, and you give me this bullshit about having company more important than me?"

Elsa covered her eyes and sighed in exasperation, "it's a very important person, Kris."

"I don't really care." Kristoff said, sticking the spoon in Anna's face,"Family should be the most important thing."

"You're blowing this out of proportion, Kristoff. I mean, Jesus."

"Don't you 'Jesus' me, squirt!"

Elsa stared up at him angrily and Kristoff shoved a spoonful of peanut butter into his mouth and stared angrily back. They remained that way for a very long time, eye wresting with one another while Kristoff chewed Olaf's peanut butter. Then Elsa noticed Kristoff's eyes doing a double take away from her onto something behind her. Kristoff lifted his head, eyes widening. The barista slowly turned to look over her shoulder at Anna who was cautiously looking at both of them from the hallway with a surprised look on her face.

"Who's that?" Kristoff asked in surprise, transfixed by Anna's beauty.

"My very good friend." Elsa said, bristling at how her cousin was staring at Anna. Anna walked forward and took Elsa's arm and held it to her chest, moving close to her, "This is Anna."

"Wow." Kristoff said, smiling flintily and said in a low, husky voice, "Hi."

Anna gave a little wave and Elsa had just about enough of Kristoff staring at her girl like that.

"You can GO now." Elsa said.

"I'd like to stay," said Kristoff, taking a few steps toward Anna who moved even closer to Elsa, "and get to know this…fine little-"

"GET OUT, Kristoff!" Elsa roared and Anna put a hand on Elsa's chest, looking up at her in confusion. The big man, to Anna, looked strangely angry and hurt at the same time before he stomped out of the room and out the door, slamming it behind him. Anna looked up at Elsa and mouthed the words, "He took your peanut butter."

Elsa sighed in frustration and pulled Anna back to her bedroom saying slowly so Anna could read her lips, "That was my stupid cousin Kristoff."

"I take it you two aren't very fond of one another?" Anna said in sign language.

"Not very fond at all, no." Elsa sighed, "See, He's been in and out of jail for years and he's the most intrusive son of a bitch ever. He always steals my brother's peanut butter…"

Anna started giggling as Elsa continued to rant about Kristoff. When Elsa noticed the light laughing coming from Anna, she stopped ranting and slowly turned to look at the giggling girl. Anna, once she saw Elsa's lips stop moving, she leaned forward and softly head butted Elsa so that the blonde was pushed back against the sheets. Elsa landed with a soft thump and sat down on her stomach and crossed her arms, smiling smugly.

"Are you just gonna keep me here?" Elsa giggled.

Anna nodded triumphantly.

Elsa sighed and lifted her arm to run her fingers through her mane of hair. She looked adoringly up at Anna who uncrossed her arms, giggled, put some hair behind her right ear, then leaned down and nuzzled Elsa's cheek. Elsa turned her head and pressed her lips against Anna's ear, smiling lovingly.

"I like you." Anna whispered into Elsa's cheek.

"I like you too." Elsa signed with one hand so Anna could see.

"I like you more." Anna whispered back.

"No, I like you more!" Elsa giggled, putting her arms around Anna's waist and holding her close while the two giggled together, kissing occasionally, and telling how much they meant to each other.

Time passed and as the two spent the evening together, and Rapunzel was left alone, waiting for Anna to come home. She checked the clock every few minutes, and waited, waited, and waited…Anna never arrived. Rapunzel didn't want to text her cousin because she knew exactly where she was.

Anna agreed to stay the night with Elsa and the two ended up sleeping in Elsa's bed together, staying up all night talking. Late into the night, as Anna was falling asleep, Elsa smiled and watched the redhead for the longest time, loving the way she looked cuddled up in her bed, warm, safe, and happy. Elsa leaned forward and kissed Anna on the nose, then said, "Goodnight, Anna."

"Goodnight." Anna whispered. And as the two closed their eyes, Elsa felt Anna cuddle up next to her and rest her cheek on her shoulder. She smiled and put an arm around Anna's shoulder. Olaf watched from the door, wondering why his big sister hadn't come up to his room to read to him or tuck him in. The boy hadn't the heart to break them apart just for his story...he decided that he could wait a night to find out what happens to the _Dawn Treader._

Olaf whispered, "Goodnight." Through the door, then walked off to bed.

Rapunzel lay in her bed, wide awake, worried and guilty…

Elsa and Anna fell asleep peacefully in each other's arms and slept until the morning's light.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Yeah, yeah I know, I've taken a hell of a while with this chapter too, I'm so sorry, guys. I just had a ton of stuff going on again. I think I need to start a schedule or something. Anyway, here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for all the likes, comments, and favorites! It really helps the process along. - Windstrider**

"And…" said Elsa as Olaf ceremoniously dropped a twenty dollar bill into the jar in the kitchen set aside specifically for Anna's implants, "We have officially reached the 3,000 dollar mark!"

"YES!" Olaf shouted excitedly, giving Elsa a high five. The barista then picked up her brother to envelope him in a long, warm hug.

Two and a half months had passed after Elsa and Anna had spent their night together. Since then, their time in each other's company had grown shorter and shorter due to Elsa's work situation. Rapunzel never got up the nerve to speak to Elsa, and Elsa was still slightly offended about what the detective had said…

Anna had talked with Rapunzel soon after the night Anna and Elsa had stayed together and somehow, Rapunzel offended Anna as well. Seeing her cousin angry with her for the first time ever, Rapunzel was left with a sense of guilt unlike she had ever felt before. As time passed day by day, the detective watched with regret as Anna left rebelliously every afternoon to visit Elsa at work…only to come back and stare angrily at Rapunzel, knowing she was the reason why she couldn't spend more time with her lover.

The barista, although offended, found it was necessary to respect the wishes of Anna's guardian and suggested to the redhead that she go home with her cousin every day instead of coming over to her house. Anna, as this went on for days, missed Elsa and Olaf more and more. She wasn't happy in the least when she was kept apart from Elsa, and neither was Elsa happy when kept apart from Anna. They never got to go on their date that Elsa proposed two months ago and their lunch dates somehow seemed to get shorter and shorter even though Anna tended to stay longer and longer…

Soon, Anna went only for Elsa, because she knew how much she meant to the older woman. She wasn't satisfied in the least with just seeing her a little bit every day. She needed more, she needed to be touched and kissed and hugged and told how much she was loved and appreciated by Elsa. She didn't need about an hour of conversation trapped between a table and confined by both their respect for Rapunzel's wishes.

On Elsa's side, work was providing excellent money and with her raise as well as the help from Olaf who was growing into a stronger boy every day, the two hit the three thousand dollar mark one day and the two were unbelievably relieved. They were getting somewhere. Before, it had seemed so hopeless, but now they had so much money saved up, they had a drive, and a goal that striving for was much easier. If they could raise this much money, then who was to stop them to raise more?

"Hey! Olaf!" Elsa smiled, taking her little brother's hand, "Let's go to the store and get a new jar of peanut butter to celebrate, huh?"

"Yeah!" Olaf said excitedly jumping up and down in place excitedly, "And we can get some Oreos too!"

"We certainly can!" Elsa said smiling. As she and her brother were halfway to the front door, Elsa's phone in her pocket vibrated. She let her brother go ahead and start getting his shoes on as she slipped her phone out to see who the sender was. When she read the contact name, she bit her lip and opened the message nervously.

"Elsa," the text that had been sent by Rapunzel read, "Anna's been simply miserable without you. She needs you more than you know, and who am I to stop you two from being together? I just sent her over to your house to see you. By me doing this, I'm apologizing to you. What I said a while ago was way out of line and you didn't deserve it. You're a wonderful person who's doing something spectacular for my dear cousin and your sacrifice in and of itself is something respectable. You and your brother both have my respect. Again, I'm sorry. Please forgive me?"

Elsa stared at her phone for a few moments and was so caught up in the apology text from Rapunzel that she didn't hear her brother softly calling her name from the front door.

"Uhh-huh?" Elsa asked awkwardly, lifting her head to look at her brother, "What?"

"Are we going or not?" Olaf asked, clumsily pulling on his right shoe.

"Anna's coming over…" Elsa replied automatically, "do you want me to text her and tell her that we'll be leaving, but coming backs shortly or-"

"You can stay here and I'll go." Olaf said, smiling at his sister, " I know the way. And if you'll give me your money I'll get you something."

"That'll be good, yeah." Elsa replied, crossing the space between her and her brother. Elsa leaned down and dropped a kiss on her brother's head, handing him the money. Olaf tucked the money in his pocket, smiling adoringly up at his big sister for a moment before walking out the door to get to his bike.

"Be careful!" Elsa called, waving.

"I will!" Olaf called back, waving back to her before he got on his bike and pedaled down the road. Elsa sighed happily and watched after him, then closed the door behind her as soon as he was out of sight. Her eyes fell on Sven, who slept comfortably draped across the floor in the kitchen that was so peaceful and quiet. She crossed the floor to her dog, then sat down on the floor next to him and reached down to pet his soft, brown fur. The dog didn't open his eyes, but his ears twitched and his tailed began to wag, thumping against the carpeted floor heavily. Elsa smiled and scratched at his floppy ears then whispered, "You know, sometimes I wonder if all you hear in your head is elevator music."

Then the front door slammed open unceremoniously by a tiny force that shook the door on it's hinges anyway. Both Elsa and Sven jumped upon the slam and Anna ran full force into Elsa, knocking her back against the rough carpet, giggling with joy upon being reunited once again with her lover after spending so much time apart. She kissed Elsa's face repeatedly, adoringly, vigorously, taking Elsa's breath away and leaving her completely blown away and giddy with pleasure. Sven jumped up and down, barking excitedly, licking Anna's cheek and whining with excitement.

"Hello." Anna giggled once the three were done hugging (And in Sven's case, licking) each other. She sat up on Elsa's lap and waved excitedly at the blonde who could only sit and stare up at the beautiful woman in wonder. Elsa sat up a few moments later and pulled Anna into a soft, warm hug. Anna loved the gentleness about Elsa. Anna knew she was the rougher one of the two, but Elsa was so tender and sweet with her, she couldn't help but adore the blonde with all of her heart.

"I missed you." Elsa smiled, planting a feather light kiss on Anna's lips.

"I missed you too." Anna said in sign language. Both women took a moment to just look at each other. As Elsa studied the younger woman's face, counting each freckle across her nose and cheeks, Anna ran her hands up and down Elsa's warm back. She smiled dreamily as she felt Elsa's gentle hands undo her braids and begin to play with her soft hair as it fell about her shoulders in waves of red.

"So." Elsa said after she was finished, leaning back and putting her weight on her hands, "How are you? How have you been?"

Anna immediately began gesturing in sign language about her day and she lead into the last few days. Elsa didn't think to stop her once and settled for just watching her, nodding accordingly to what she said and smiling lovingly without getting bored the least bit. Anna had been going on and on for about a half an hour before Elsa heard the front door open and shut quietly. She reached forward and rested a hand on Anna's shoulder, then gestured in sign language, "Olaf's back from the store, and he's got some junk food!"

"Nice!" Anna mouthed. Olaf walked into the room with two bags full of groceries. Once he saw Anna, he dropped the bags on the floor immediately and bounded quickly across the room into Anna's arms where the redhead held the boy tightly, grinning with joy as Olaf hugged her for the first time in a while. Elsa sat back and let it happen with joy in her heart. Anna lifted Olaf's head and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead, then played with his blonde hair.

"I missed you!" Olaf said happily to Anna, and the silent girl smiled, then placed her forehead to his, getting the message across, no words or gestures needed. Elsa reached forward and brought the two into a gentle hug. Anna rested her cheek on Elsa's shoulder and Olaf snuggled up to Anna. The redhead, sandwiched between the two siblings, shivered with delight.

She loved Elsa and Olaf more than anything. She found more comfort in them than anything else and she almost felt like she could reach complete contentment when she was with them. All she really needed to feel her happiest was Elsa's smile and the caring gaze. Anna lifted her head and kissed Elsa again, gently on the lips. The blonde smiled and kissed her back, placing her hand on the back of her brother's head, rubbing gently.

"It's like we're a family." Olaf whispered, lifting his head, and looking at Anna, "And…and you can be the mom I never had."

Elsa smiled into Anna's cheek as the woman read the little man's lips and lifted a hand to cover her mouth. Olaf smiled adoringly up at the redhead and said, "I love you!"

Elsa watched the two with her chest swelling with happiness. Anna took Olaf up into her arms and held him close to her, burying her face into his platinum blonde hair saying quietly, "I love you too."

Olaf, out of the corner of his eye, saw his sister pondering something deeply, and then said, "I love you too, Elsa. You're my momma too even though your my sister. You can be my momma with Anna."

Elsa turned her head to smile at Olaf with a loving smile. Her heart went out to her baby brother and she leaned down and kissed his face. Olaf was learning not to deny kisses as much anymore. He was growing quite fond of them and ever since Elsa had met Anna, Olaf had received many kisses from both women. He had no complaints. (Neither would you!)

Elsa backed away and Anna let go of Olaf to allow him onto the floor. The boy raced back to pick up the grocery bags he had dropped onto the floor and put them on kitchen table. Opening one of them, Olaf stuck his arm inside and pulled out a jar of extra crunchy peanut butter and a bag of Oreos…along with a box of special tea for Elsa.

"Oh my gosh, Olaf!" Elsa gasped as he handed her the box, "I haven't had tea in ages! Thank you so much!"

"There's twelve tea bags in there." Olaf said, struggling to screw off the peanut butter jar lid so he could get into it, "So you can have twelve cups of tea!"

"Thanks, buddy." Elsa said, grinning as Anna saw Olaf was struggling to open the jar, then gestured for him to give the jar to her. Anna twisted off the lid for Olaf and peeled back the covering, handing it back to Olaf who thanked her politely then dipped his finger neatly into the jar and placed the peanut butter in his mouth. Anna turned to look at Elsa and grinned as she watched the blonde open the box and take a long sniff.

"You like tea?" Anna asked in sign language.

"I love it." Elsa replied, "Despite the fact I work in a coffee shop, I like a good cup of tea every now and again."

Anna smiled and crawled over to Elsa where she laid in her lap, resting her head on her breasts and holding Elsa's waist. The older woman placed a hand on the back of Anna's head and gently hummed a soft song that she pretended the younger woman could hear. Olaf laid his head on Anna's side and ate his peanut butter. The three remained that way in the middle of the dining room floor for a while.

After a few moments of Anna cuddling Elsa, Anna's phone vibrated. She lifted her head and surprised Elsa with a quick peck on the lips, then turned and pulled out her cell phone. It was a message from Rapunzel. As Elsa watched Anna read the message, she took notice of how her eyes widened slightly and her entire demeanor became as still as a stone.

Then, as Elsa was about to say something to Anna, her own phone vibrated with a text message. Elsa lifted the phone and saw that the sender was Kristoff. The text read: "Hey, Elsa, I need a favor…I need a couple bucks from you."

"No." Elsa texted back quickly, then turned her phone off because she knew her cousin wouldn't hesitate to prod.

Anna lifted her hand to her mouth and lifted her head to stare into space, tears blooming in her eyes. The phone in her hand shook slightly.

"What is it?" Elsa asked in concern, leaning forward and taking the phone from Anna to read the message.

It read, "Anna, I sincerely hope you're with Elsa right now. Do you remember the serial killer I told you about? Well, he made his fourth murder today in our fron't lawn. It's like he's trying to tell us that he can get away with whatever he wants. It's a mockery. Stay with Elsa until I come and get you later tonight. I know she will protect you if anything goes wrong. The murderer has moved to this side of the county, so be extremely careful, hun. I love you."

Elsa's mouth dropped open and she gripped the phone in her hand, then lifted her head to look into the frightened eyes of Anna. The deaf woman clasped her hands together and her eyes flicked back and forth across the room nervously. The barista reached forward and got Anna's attention and eye contact then said comfortingly, "I'll protect you, Anna. I promise." She smiled then kissed Elsa lovingly.

"Olaf." Elsa said, looking down at her little brother. She took a moment to realize that she had put him in so much risk by letting him go to the store alone that evening, "You're not allowed to leave the house for anything. As long as Anna is with us, you need to obey us both and we'll keep you safe."

"What's going on?" Olaf asked, crawling into Anna's lap, providing some more comfort for the redhead.

"There's a guy out there, kidnapping people." Elsa said, "And he'll do bad things to you if you get caught."

"Like what?" Asked Olaf nervously.

"I can't say for sure." Elsa answered her brother, "all I know is that it's not good and he will hurt you very VERY badly."

Olaf's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this and moved closer to Anna.

"But, I'll protect the both of you." Elsa said, leaning forward and ruffling Olaf's hair gently, making the boy smile with pleasure and rest his head down on Anna's chest. Anna gave Olaf a tight hug which he responded to automatically and hugged her back.

Elsa stood to her feet, then turned to Olaf and said, "Hey, bud, how about we play a game!"

Upon mention of his game, Olaf jumped to his feet and raced out of the room. Elsa listened with a grin as he pattered down the hallway and took the stairs two at a time to run and get his game.

"Mmm." Anna hummed as kissed Elsa's nose. She then stood and walked out of the room, pausing at the doorway to give Elsa a beckoning look. The barista's jaw slightly dropped and she watched Anna skip from the room. Elsa stood a moment later, sighing loudly and moving to the kitchen...and once she entered her heart swelled in her chest to see Anna and her brother at the table, setting up their favorite game.

As the three began their game of monopoly, Rapunzel was pacing back and forth in front of an inert body that lay face down in her front yard. Police lights flashed around her and illuminated the white coated figure crouched down over the body, observing the small bullet hole in the back of the man's head with professional delicateness, examining the entry wound with careful, gloved hands.

"There was no call into the station about a gunshot so…I'm guessing it was a silencer." The medical examiner parted the hair a bit more to look at the wound, "Look at the entry wound, do you see how small it is?"

Rapunzel stopped pacing, then stepped over the body and leaned over it, standing next to the couched figure, observing the wound. The medical examiner's eyes trailed from the back of the victim's head up to Rapunzel face where they remained for a short period of time, her cheeks flushing a dark crimson as she watched the detective's intense green eyes calculating the scene with machine like accuracy.

"This has to be some kind of message." Rapunzel said, rubbing the back of her neck, "I mean, what could be clearer than placing a dead body in a cops yard? Thus lunatic wants to tell us something."

"It's like he's saying, 'I can get away with whatever I want and just to prove it, I'm going to stick a dead body in one of the forces finest cop's yard' ."

Rapunzel was about to nod in agreement when she stopped and looked down at the medical examiner and slightly grinned, "…One of the forces finest cops?"

"If not the finest." The doctor said, standing and removing her gloves slowly and tucking them in her coat pocket. Rapunzel rubbed her cheek for a moment, observing the blushing woman, then said softly,

"Doctor, are you familiar with the study of cardiology?"

"Depends on the question, detective."

"Well…" said Rapunzel, "Can you tell me why my heart palpitates whenever I'm near you?"

"Palpitates..." the doctor echoed, moving closer to Rapunzel who looked down at her, placing her hands on her hips, smiling smugly.

"It seems you have a strong case of desire." said she.

"And do you think you can diagnose my sourse of desire, doctor?"

"I don't know." Said the medical examiner as she felt Rapunzel's hands around her waist, reaching up to seductively run her fingers down Rapunzel's bicep, "But once you figure it out, you let me know, okay?"

"I might have come to a conclusion." Rapunzel replied immediately, smoothly moving her hands back and around the medical examiner's back, "Belle, I…"

"Hey guys!" came a loud voice from beside them. Both women turned their head slowly to glare at the man who was leaning over the dead man in Rapunzel's yard. He remained there a moment, staring at it like he had never seen a dead body before, then he straightened and said, "You guys done checking him out yet?"

"Yes, Kai." Said Rapunzel, moving away from the medical examiner who then lost her heated blush and crossed her arms, and shot Rapunzel's partner a glare.

"Okay cool…" said Rapunzel's partner awkwardly under the doctor's gaze.

"I need to take the body back to the lab for a full autopsy…" Belle said quickly, "I need to analyze the wound further. The longer we leave this corpse here, the more forensic evidence is lost."

"Okay, I'll go get the guys with the stretcher." Kai said with a polite smile, heading toward the cop cars with the flashing lights on the hoods. The medical examiner and the detective turned back to each other, smiling awkwardly.

"How would you like me to…further analyze your little desire problem?" Belle said softly, moving up close to Rapunzel and began undoing her belt, "Perhaps I can...ease your desires."

Rapunzel placed her hands on Bell's arms and rubbed up and down slowly. Belle unhooked Rapunzel's belt and placed a hand on her bottom pressing up very close to her, their breasts pressing together, their lips inches apart.

"I would like that very much, doctor." Rapunzel whispered as Belle slowly pulled down her pants zipper, "…but."

Belle halted.

"I have to tell my cousin she can't come home tonight…and that she has to stay with Elsa."

"I see." Belle said taking a step back, "Why are you so against Elsa taking care of Anna for the time being? In my opinion, this Elsa woman has been taking care of her little brother all her life and just look at him! Everything will be fine."

"I know it will." Rapunzel replied, zipping up her pants hastily, "it's just that…I don't know, I'm having trouble letting Anna go."

"She's your little girl." Belle said with a warm smile

"Hmm. She's not going to like that she can't come home though…" said Rapunzel, running her fingers through her hair, "But, I'm sure she'll be happy with Elsa all the same."

"Hmm." Belle hummed softly, "You know…" she paused for a long moment, thinking before she spoke, "You could come and stay with me until they allow you back home..."

Rapunzel's eyes widened slightly at this, and she grinned a moment later at the blushing woman. Belle placed her hands behind her back and awaited an answer, looking down at the ground. Rapunzel chuckled deeply, reached forward, and lifted Belle's chin with her pointer finger so she could look into Belle's eyes.

"We'll see." Rapunzel answered softly, leaning down to place a soft kiss on Belle's lips. The medical examiner lost herself in the few moments their lips were connected, and the moment they parted, her eyes remained shut, her mind blank. Only when Rapunzel left her arms did she open them.

"Let me go talk to Anna first, then we'll see about me coming to stay with you," Rapunzel said, moving off towards her car, "Have an extra room ready for me, just in case."

Belle nodded slowly and Rapunzel trotted off to her car.

"Hey." Kai said suddenly appearing beside Belle, startling her slightly, "You two finally going to hook up or what? It's been almost two years now…"

"She's coming over later, Kai," said Belle with a dreamy smile as she watched her secret lover hop into her white mustang and pull out onto the road, "I think the relationship I've been dreaming about is finally going to become a reality."

"Well then!" Kai said, clapping his hands and startling Belle once again, "I'll arrange a party at some point for you two. The entire squad has been waiting for you guys to get together and tonight is going to be freaking epic."

"I'm going to be so lucky to have the force's finest cop as a girlfriend." Belle sighed as she watched Rapunzel drive down the road and out of sight, "…I bet she's an animal in bed."

"Okay then!" Kai said, clapping his hands once more, making Belle nearly loose her temper, "Wonder what's keeping the stretcher guys! I'll be back in a bit." Belle watched Kai as he stumbled off. After a moment, she smiled softly, then her smile faltered as her eyes slowly shifted downward to rest on the back of the dead man's head where the entry wound was. She narrowed her eyes and the feeling of dread returned to her. If this murderer was after Rapunzel, there was only so much time she and her partner had left to find him before he struck again.

Rapunzel pressed her foot down on the pedal, speeding in order to reach her cousin.

Both Elsa and Anna were sitting in the living room on the couch, reading a book together, nestled under a blanket in the most comfortable position they could achieve. Elsa could barely focus on the book with the scent of Anna's hair so close to her nose and Anna could barely focus on the book when she could feel the steady rise and fall of Elsa's chest and the steady heartbeat under her hand. It was only when Elsa kissed the top of her head did Anna know that Elsa was about to turn the page…she awaited every kiss with anticipation.

Before they had sat down together to read, they had spent a lot of time with Olaf playing monopoly. Olaf and Elsa let Anna win, and she knew it too. She gave them both kisses afterwards, Olaf on his scruffy head of hair and Elsa on the cheek. Olaf had moved back and forth from Elsa and Anna's lap as they played their game and eventually settled for sitting in Anna's lap, liking how her soft red hair would rest over his shoulders as well as hers. Elsa simply sat across from them and smiled so much her cheeks hurt.

As Anna and Elsa sat together reading, Anna realized how much she loved the smell of Elsa. She simply adored how warm the woman was and how gentle and welcome she felt. She was so relaxed that she felt right at home and free to move and cuddle her as she liked. There wasn't a moment where she felt like she needed to back off or give her space. The older woman adored the attention and constantly wished that Anna would move just a bit closer or kiss her on the cheek once more, but she just settled with Anna being where she was and considered the small movements a blessing.

Anna smiled warmly as she felt Elsa's cheek pressing against the crown of her head, moving her shoulder so that Anna was more comfortably rested on her shoulder. Anna turned the page of their book and closed her eyes slowly, turning her head slightly so that her nose was pressed into the soft fabric of Elsa's t-shirt. She never wanted to leave this spot. She decided that she would be content for the rest of her days just sitting here with her lover.

Elsa knew Anna wasn't reading. She knew she was resisting the urge to cuddle her, so the barista slowly closed the book, then set it on the side table placing her arms around the younger woman who shivered slightly in pleasure and excitement, then leaned up and began to kiss her. Amid their slow and soft kisses, Elsa jerked backwards upon hearing the loud slam of the front door. Anna, slightly startled, stared at Elsa with wide eyes.

"Hold on…" said Elsa, turning her head to stare down the living room hallway that lead out into the kitchen and dining room…

"Relax!" Cam a familiar voice from the front door, "it's me."

Elsa sighed in relief and laid back against the couch. Anna rested her hand on Elsa's chest and cocked her head to the side silently asking what the problem was.

"It's Rapunzel." Elsa smiled.

Anna's eyes lit up and Elsa smiled gently up at her girl, her heart skipping a beat. Anna lifted her head and waved to her cousin who trudged down the hallway tiredly, rubbing her eyes and frustrated adjusting her belt, hooking it up again and trying not to think of Belle.

"Hi!" Anna said aloud and Rapunzel paused for a moment, taking in the soft sound of Anna's voice, then she crossed the room to her and sat down beside Elsa who smiled welcomingly. Rapunzel, finding it strange Elsa would react so welcomingly after their disagreement, awkwardly crossed her arms and nodded in greeting.

"So how are things at the house?" Elsa asked as Anna took her hands and knitted their fingers together.

"Not good to tell you the truth." Rapunzel replied honestly, then she looked at Anna and said in sign language, "Neither of us can stay at the house tonight, hun."

Anna's eyes slightly widened, but then she looked down at Elsa who was comfortingly smiling up at her. She immediately relaxed and leaned down, pressing her cheek to Elsa's, then kissing her quickly and moving over the couch so she could sit in Rapunzel's lap. The detective, glad to have some kind of release from her stressful job, felt unbelievably relieved when Anna placed her tired head on her chest. Rapunzel put her arms around Anna's waist and Anna hugged her cousin's head, smiling happily.

When Rapunzel had had enough, she backed away and kissed the tip of Anna's nose, reaching up to place a hand on her cheek. The woman leaned into her hand and smiled admiringly down at her cousin. Rapunzel said quietly, "You wouldn't mind staying here with Elsa and her brother until our house is safe, would you?"

Elsa sat up a bit at this and Anna took Rapunzel's hand, mouthing the words, "Of course! But where will you stay?"

"With Belle." Rapunzel replied and both Anna and Rapunzel went silent while Elsa stared on with curiosity.

Anna broke out into a sly grin and Rapunzel's cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson.

"Is that why you were buckling your belt when you walked in?" Anna signed in sign language and Elsa's mouth slowly dropped open.

"I don't want to talk about it, Anna." Rapunzel said stiffly.

Anna giggled sweetly, then climbed back over the couch to sit down in Elsa's lap and drape her arms around her neck. Rapunzel rubbed the back of her neck and smiled awkwardly.

"Look," said Elsa, "I acted harshly a few months ago, and I can tell you don't need any extra stress on you right now with a case like this on your hands. Everything is cool between us, okay?"

"Yeah." Rapunzel smiled, "Cool."

Anna's face slowly fell as her mind trailed to why she couldn't get into her home. Rapunzel and Elsa both noticed her at the same time and asked her what was wrong simultaneously.

"How…" Anna began aloud, but then she shook her head and switched to sign language, "How did you find the body?"

"Do you want to know?' Rapunzel replied.

Anna nodded.

"Well…" Rapunzel said cautiously, "We found him face down…in the front yard with a bullet in the back of his head."

Anna gasped and placed her head in the crook of Elsa's neck. The older woman wrapped her in a safe, warm embrace and whispered, "Shhh." In her ear, rubbing her back. Anna felt the gentle voice on her ear and she tightened her grip on Elsa. Rapunzel sat by with her arms crossed, looking at the two, feeling better and better about the fact she was leaving Anna with Elsa.

When Anna lifted her head again to look at Rapunzel, she said softly, "I love you, Punzy…be careful."

"I'll most definitely be careful." Rapunzel said, getting to her feet and leaning down to Anna's eye level, "I'll be careful for you."

Anna nodded, then sat forward and draped her arms around Rapunzel's neck and pulled her in for another hug and a kiss on the cheek. When the two cousins pulled away, Rapunzel stood and straightened slowly, placing a hand on her hip and meeting Elsa's gaze.

"Protect her, okay?" Rapunzel said.

"I will." Elsa replied solemnly, "You'll catch this dude no problem. I have faith you will."

The detective shrugged her shoulders with a smile, then said, "Goodnight, you two. Stay safe. I'll be by tomorrow at some point to check up on the both of you."

"Okay." Elsa said as Rapunzel turned to leave the room. As she was walking down the hallway, Elsa saw her jump out of the way of a bolting Olaf who quickly apologized and went about his way. He tore into the living room, holding something behind his back. He reached the two women where he halted and jumped up and down in place, holding something behind his back.

"Hey buddy." Elsa said with a grin.

"I have something to show you right now, sis so come with me quickly okay?" Olaf chattered. Anna looked up at Elsa and smiled curiously. Elsa kissed her forehead and picked her up bridal style, then laid her down against the couch, resting her head on a pillow, telling her she would be back in a few minutes.

Anna gave a thumbs up, then closed her eyes and began to rest.

"Okay, bro." Elsa said, following her trotting brother out through the hallway and into the dimly lit kitchen. Olaf slammed something down on the table and threw a quarter at Elsa which she caught, then dropped on accident.

"What the hell are you-"

"Just look!" Olaf said proudly, crossing his arms.

Elsa stood and walked to the tabletop and her eyes slightly widened when she saw the scratch ticket that lay on the table. She turned to her brother with a look that said, "Really? Are you serious?"

"It's worth a shot." Olaf said, shrugging.

"First of all, where did you get this?" Elsa asked.

"The parking lot of the store when I was walking home with the groceries earlier." Said Olaf excitedly, "I decided that we should at least give it a shot, you know? What could it hurt?"

"These things are pretty much useless, bud." Elsa sighed.

"But let's just try it out!" Olaf said insistently, "Come on and try it!"

Elsa huffed and stared at her brother as he pleadingly gazed up at her with his big blue eyes…

Finally Elsa huffed and humored her brother by scratching off the card, not even looking at the results, adamant on her theory that the scratch card was nothing more than a useless waste of paper.

"There now you see?" she said, standing up once she was done scratching off the card. She put the quarter in her pocket and crossed her arms, "Now you see why these things are always use-"

Olaf was staring at the card with eyes so wide, Elsa thought her brother was frightened somehow. She got on one knee and placed her hands on his shoulders, "What's wrong, Olaf?"

The boy slowly lifted his arm and pointed at the card on the table. Elsa blinked a few times then stood to her feet and leaned over the table to look at the dust covered card. The moment she processed what she saw written, her heart stopped momentarily and her jar dropped.

Rapunzel stood outside the medical examiner's house and bit her lip, hesitating to knock. She stood frozen and rigid for a few moments before she got the courage to knock on the door three times. It was about a full 60 seconds before she heard the patter of feet running down a flight of stairs. The detective sucked in a breath, and waited for the beautiful women she had loved for two years to open the door and allow her in for a night both of them would never forget…

When the door slowly opened, the sight of Belle dressed in nothing but a small bath towel, dripping wet, her hair hanging around her shoulders in wet strands, soaked with warm water almost made Rapunzel gasp.

"Oh." Belle said nonchalantly, "How are you this evening, miss?"

"Better now that I'm here with you." Rapunzel said with a goofy smile.

"Hmm," the medical examiner smiled, "Why don't you come in, detective?"

"I think I shall." Rapunzel said, stepping inside the house. She looked up at the hanging chandelier and was immediately intimidated by the classiness of the home. There was a spiraling staircase that lead to a large upper floor. The house was large and her footsteps echoed and the doorways into the many different rooms throughout the home were wide and yawning…

"Why don't you join me in the bath." Belle said, resting a hand on Rapunzel's shoulder.

"I would very much like that, thank you." Rapunzel said as Belle circled her and stopped in front of her, reaching down to unbuckle her belt once more. Rapunzel bit her lip as she watched Belle's fingers work the buckle out of its secure place, then she shivered as the doctor slipped the belt out of her pants and turned her back, draping it across her neck, starting up the spiral stair case.

"It'll be good for you to relax after such a long, stressful case…how does a backrub sound?"

"Ohhh yes." Rapunzel whispered, then she followed Belle up the stairs toward the bathroom.

Elsa walked back slowly into the living room to find Anna half asleep. The young woman turned her head to see her lover walk into the room looking extremely flustered. She sat up and held out her arms like a child that wanted to be picked up.

Elsa immediately obliged and sat down, placing the younger woman in her lap, hugging her from behind, pressing her lips to her bare shoulder.

"Is everything okay?" Anna asked quietly aloud.

"Yes." Elsa said, shakily against Anna's sweet skin, "Everything is wonderful, Anna."

Anna leaned back into the barista's arms and smiled contentedly…little did she know that tucked in the back pocket of Elsa's jeans, there was a scratch ticket worth 100,000 dollars.


	7. Chapter 7

Rapunzel slowly opened her eyes and was met by the sound of another's gentle breathing. She slowly shut her eyes again and turned on her side, then opened them up again to see the beautiful sight of Belle sleeping soundly beside her underneath her blankets that had been lazily thrown over herself to keep her body covered.

Last night was a hazy blur for Rapunzel. All she could remember were Belle's high pitched screams of ecstasy and the intense sensations of their heated, passionate sex. Rapunzel, exhausted from being ravished and ravishing her lover, sat up and ran her fingers through her hair. She looked down at the sleeping form of the medical examiner and smiled softly, leaning down to press a kiss to the woman's temple. She lingered above her peaceful face for a moment, then sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, running her fingers through her hair simply choosing to sit there for a few fleeting moments, her mind drifting to Anna and Elsa, and if they were sleeping together like she and Belle were.

As Rapunzel shook her head softly, deciding that she'd rather not think about it, she stood up, stretching slowly. She began running through the evidence they had found out about the killer in her mind as she casually walked across the room to pick up her freshly washed work outfit that had been laid out over the back of Belle's desk chair. She slipped on her underclothes, then her pants and her comfortable uniform shirt. She paused a moment to glace back at Belle as she sighed in her sleep. She smiled at her, slipping her belt into its place. She grabbed her wallet and other things, then went to leave the room. Moments before she left, closing the door behind her, she hesitated, then turned her head to look at Belle sleeping one last time.

She was slightly startled to see dark brown eyes staring back at her from the bed, wordlessly pleading for her to say something-anything. Belle did more than simply say something to her lover. She crossed the room, leaned down and captured the young woman's lips with her own and placed a hand to her shoulder. When the detective let go, the doctor lifted her head to meet her gaze and whispered, "I'll meet you at the station in a bit, okay?"

"Of course." Rapunzel replied stroking Belle's cheek, smiling. She turned on her heel and said as she reached the door, "hopefully we can get a lead on this bastard today. It's been two days since the body was discovered in my yard and this guy usually waits a week before his next victim shows up somewhere."

Belle watched as Rapunzel left the room, muttering to herself as she descended the staircase. The doctor smiled, then laid back in her bed and stretched her arms over her head, thinking about the night they had just spent together. Then she became rather flustered, and decided she would take a quick, warm shower to wake her up before she met Rapunzel at work.

The detective had been staying in Belle's house for almost a week and the two had enjoyed every moment together. While the two spent time during the day, looking for the murderer, they would find time to flirt shamelessly in front of their co-workers who would simply watch on with interest, waiting to see which one would make a physical move first. The two had bonded tremendously ever since the first night they spent together in Belle's house. The only time the two would be apart was when Rapunzel would be upstairs in her office looking over the suspect's files and Belle would be in the autopsy room, going over the information she gathered over the last few bodies. While Belle and Rapunzel spend the days working together, Elsa and Anna had been spending time together in different ways.

Elsa didn't and couldn't let either Anna or her brother outside for a single moment. They had no choice but to stay inside, so they all got to work to cleaning the house upon the suggestion of Anna. Anna had started to teach Olaf sign language, even though he knew that he would never have to use it come the time when Elsa presented Anna with the implants. Olaf asked Elsa daily as time went on when she was going to tell Anna about their gift to her. The barista would only smile and reply, "Just give it one more day."

No matter how much Elsa tried to keep her secret hidden, Anna sensed something suspicious…something secretive. Whenever Anna would look directly into Elsa's deep, icy blue eyes she would see something hidden beneath them, something hidden, like she was holding some kind of inside joke that she didn't want to share just because it was amusing her. As the nights passed, Elsa and Anna found themselves sitting together in the living room and reading together until it became a nightly tradition, although, for most nights, Anna was too distracted by Elsa's body she was leaning against to read a single word…the recent nights though had all ended with Elsa kissing Anna's head and saying something along the lines of, "I like you lots…" with that secretive glance behind her eyes that Anna noticed without fail.

By Thursday of that week, Anna was nearing her wits end with Elsa and her obvious secret. She then planned on confronting Elsa about it early the next morning so she had made sure that she set her alarm for 9:30. She fell asleep that night in Elsa's arms...but come next morning, Anna awoke to the sharp, repeated buzzing underneath her (Laying on top of her phone and setting a vibrating alarm served as an alarm clock for her). She rolled over in bed like she did every morning, expecting Elsa to be there beside her, but she rolled onto nothing but an empty bedside. She laid there for a moment, staring up at the ceiling with curiosity. Then she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking out the window at the bright, sunny day, wondering where Elsa could have gone. Her blurry eyes soon drifted to the bedside table where a bright yellow post-it note sat clear as day. The redhead blinked a few times then, in efforts of waking herself, she clumsily jumped across the bed and nearly fell off the side as she tried to get to her feet. Once standing she teetered for a moment, still very much half asleep waiting a few moments before she reached down, and picked up the note.

"Freckles," the note read, "I've decided to take Olaf out to the store this morning for some breakfast food. When we come back, I'm going to tell you something I've been keeping from you. I can tell you know I'm keeping a secret so…you're going to know in a few minutes. If I know you at all, you just woke up at 9:00 on the dot. That's your alarm, right? :) I have a few precautionary rules to follow to make sure you're safe. Obviously, don't answer the door for anyone, even if they refuse to go away. Absolutely NO ONE is allowed inside this house. If someone breaks in, which is highly unlikely because that front door is freaking mahogany and a battering ram couldn't even get in without some effort, make sure you run like hell right into the cellar. Lock the door behind you and squeeze into that little room in the floor that I showed you, okay? Olaf and I will be home soon! Love you!"

Anna tilted her head and shook her loose red hair, rubbing her eye with her right hand, and setting the note back down on the table. She took a moment to stretch her arms above her head, thinking of how heroic Elsa would look rushing in to save her at the last moment if the murderer dared to show his face in her house. Anna had found that Elsa was extremely protective of this house and of her. Elsa would undoubtedly sacrifice a great deal to keep Anna safe, and the redhead had no doubt that Elsa would always keep her safe. Anna laid back down on the bed stomach first, gripping the sheets in her hands and shoving her face into them, smelling the barista's warm scent. It was purely Elsa, and Anna loved it. Anna tried to fall back asleep as she waited for her girlfriend and her brother to come back from the store, but after a while, she stood and made her way out into the kitchen, pondering what Elsa's secret could possibly be…

Maybe it was something to do with Rapunzel?

Or maybe she's hiding something important that would affect their relationship for the better or worse.

The longer Anna thought, the more she grew curious. She placed herself down at the kitchen table and thrummed her fingers against the counter top thinking deeply. Sven, their rarely seen mutt, trotted around the corner and flopped down on the floor ungracefully, his ears laying at an awkward angle. Anna could practically hear the flop as the animal plopped down on the floor. She grinned slightly and stood, making her way to Sven who greeted her with a soft whine, his tail thumping against the carpet.

Anna began stroking Sven, crouched at his side, and smiling happily, running her fingers through the dog's soft fur. As the young woman stayed that way for a few minutes, she remained oblivious of two, dark eyes peering through the window near the front door. The dark form had sneaked up to the door moments ago and had happened to look in the thick paned, dust coated-window to catch the sight of the redhead as she patted Sven's side affectionately. The dark figure's dark eyes locked in on Anna and narrowed into slits, searing with hatred; the only feeling the person felt. A gloved hand touched the doorknob delicately and gripped it tightly, then twisted. The handle, much to the figure's surprise, didn't budge at all and the hooded person shifted slightly, catching Anna's eye. Anna nonchalantly looked up just in time to notice the figure in the window and her eyes widened, her hand stopped stroking Sven and as she made eye contact with the hooded figure, her heartbeat stopped momentarily.

The figure stared straight back at Anna and pierced her with cold, unfeeling eyes. The young woman remained still as a stone, the blood in her veins turning to ice in an intense rush of total fear. For the first time in her life, Anna wanted to hear so badly it hurt her. She desperately strained to hear, she strained extremely hard but try as she might, she could hear nothing but silence. Those eyes, cold and clear, pierced into hers as long as she remained there. She dare not move, breathe, or even blink.

As seconds passed, Anna experienced a fear she had never felt before. She knew she was completely alone in this house, with a murder outside the front door. She didn't have to hear to know that he was furiously shaking the door handle. The dark figure, struggled mightily with the doorknob, shaking it as hard as they could. Anna could see in the powerful form, that there was strength that would far surpass her own.

"He's trying to break down the door." Anna though silently. Her heart began thudding furiously in her chest and she could almost hear the door shaking on its hinges. She was completely frozen. Her mind screamed 'run' but she remained completely motionless, her eyes widening...the door was holding. The massive mahogany door couldn't be broken into. With the amount of force the person was pushing with on the door wouldn't even begin to make the door budge.

Then all at once, the figure grew still and stopped shaking the door, then pressed his gloved hand to the window for a moment, staring intently into Anna's wide eyes, then disappeared as if the person had never been there at all.

Moments later, Elsa burst through the door backwards with grocery bags in her arms and a bag of sugar on her head, laughing heartily as Olaf trailed after her, dragging a huge bag of dog food behind him, grocery bags balanced atop it. Anna stood to her feet in a panic, tore ahead of Elsa and Olaf without thinking, and slammed the door shut violently, making sure it was locked. Elsa dropped the bags as soon as Anna rushed past and she stared at the startled girl as she pressed back against the door, chest heaving, her hands pressed to her heart and her eyes alert and frightened, unable to focus on more than one thing for more than a few seconds.

"What happened?" Elsa asked with concern, stepping forward, placing her hands on Anna's shoulders, "You look like you've seen a-"

"Elsa!" Anna cried aloud, bursting into tears and running into her open arms, "I saw him!"

"Who!" Elsa asked, startled, "Who did you see?"

She signed frantically with her right hand, "The murder!"

Elsa didn't doubt her for a moment. Most people at that moment would've asked her, "Are you absolutely sure?" but Elsa didn't doubt her in the least.

"He tried to break in!" Anna whispered, clutching Elsa's shirt.

Elsa placed a hand on the back of Anna's head and pressed her to her chest, holding her as tightly as she could, kissing the crown of Anna's head. Olaf stared up at the two in complete shock, processing what they were saying and slightly beginning to panic. He dropped the bag of dog food on the ground in astonishment. Olaf understood with a feeling of intense fear that the murderer had tried to break in not moments ago, and Anna had seen whoever it was.

Elsa knew that that door couldn't be kicked down, even if someone tried his very hardest. Elsa's father, before he had left both her and her baby brother, made sure that he reinforced the door with mahogany and extremely hard to break hinges. Elsa had put her faith in that door many times, for it had not fallen once no matter the weather or threat. It must've scared Anna more than anything, Elsa thought. She lifted Anna's head to look her in the eye. Hot tears slid down Anna's cheeks and Elsa brushed them away with her thumbs as she cupped Anna's cheeks with her hands.

"It's alright now." Elsa whispered, and the sharp look in Anna's frightened eyes gradually older woman rested her forehead against Anna's and the tenseness of the air around them relaxed. Anna's tears turned into tears of relief and the barista kissed Anna softly on the mouth and said, "He's gone now."

"How do you know he won't come back?" Anna mouthed.

"Because." Elsa replied softly, "I'm here now, and if he comes back, he won't be able to break in that door or any of the windows. Just a few moments ago was proof of that. And...I'll protect you. Even though you've seen that person, It's completely safe in here. You're with me now."

"Y-yeah." Anna whispered softly, "Thank god you came when you did."

"I promised Rapunzel I would protect you, remember?" Elsa smiled, placing a hand on the back of Anna's head, "And there's no way I'm breaking that promise. That must've been freaking terrifying though."

Anna shook her head up and down and Elsa hugged her tighter for a few moments before Anna lifted her head and lifted her right hand to sign the words, "We need to tell Rapunzel so she can come and investigate…That aside, you left a note on the nightstand that said you were going to tell me your secret?"

The older woman hesitated for a good 30 seconds, looking between her and her brother who both gave her eager stares, then she relaxed and backed away, holding both of Anna's hands, leading her to the back bedroom.

"Come with me." she sighed nervously.

Anna couldn't decide if the look in her eyes was something she should be worried about or not. As far as the redhead could tell, Elsa managed to go from a strong, reliable woman to a complete nervous wreck. As the blonde lead Anna back into the bedroom, nodding to Olaf with a small smile before she shut the door behind her. Once Anna was situated, seated on the foot of Elsa's bed, she looked up at her girlfriend curiously and cocked her head to this side. Elsa took a deep breath and began signing in sign language, her hands shaking,

"I've been keeping this secret from you since around the time we first met." Anna sat forward in her seat as Elsa went on, "I..had this crazy love fueled idea that I would, over a long period of time, save up enough money to get you..cochlear implants."

As Elsa said this, Anna didn't process it at first. Elsa gave her a few moments to understand what she had done, and as soon as she realized the importance of the moment, the younger woman went into complete denial about the fact that Elsa could've possibly raised enough money for implants. There was simply no way. It was too big of a task for one woman to accomplish alone, and, let's face it, who could be crazy enough to do something as big as that after having first met? It seemed a little insane to Anna, but when Elsa walked in front of her, standing tall and looking her straight in the eye, Anna's thoughts trailed off.

"Would you want to have implants, Anna?" asked Elsa and Anna felt heated tears rise to her cheeks, "would you want to hear again?"

It took a few moments of Anna sobbing before Elsa got her answer, "Yes!"

The older woman smiled and let out a breath in a small laugh. She felt tears rising to her own eyes as well. Elsa leaned down and brushed back some red hair from Anna's face, wiping the tears away as they fell, fixing Anna with a loving smile. Anna, as she let the weight of the moment sink in.

"You're crazy." was all Anna could say in her astonishment.

"I might be." Elsa chuckled, sitting down beside her, "I might be."

Anna was so overcome with joy in the next few moments, she couldn't find any words to express thankfulness to Elsa. The barista knew that since the beginning, her motive had completely changed. Elsa realized that her sacrifice of time and energy to get Anna the implants was her declaration of love.

The redhead took off her glasses so she could cry freely and Elsa pulled the younger girl into her lap, embracing her warmly, rubbing her back. Anna remained speechless, and near heartbrokenness. How could she possibly repay Elsa for this kind of kindness? Anna wanted to do something for Elsa, anything! But what could amount up to the action Elsa had just done and had been doing for her for who knew how long? Nothing came to mind, and Anna cried harder. Elsa sat with her lover as long as she needed too, until Anna was able to lift her head and meet her gaze.

"Thank you." Anna said in sign language and reply, Elsa kissed her forehead.

"Soon…" Anna said breathlessly, placing a hand on Elsa's cheek, "I'll be able to hear your voice."

Elsa resisted saying, "IF the implants work." There was an added risk of placing cochlear implants in one's ear. They would either work, or not, but Elsa was willing to try it. If they would work, the first thing Elsa would say to Anna would be, "I love you."

"When is my surgery?" Anna asked Elsa.

"In two days." Said Elsa and Anna went rigid, "I kind of made plans beforehand and would call to cancel if you didn't want to-"

"No." Anna cut Elsa off, gesturing wildly, "I want to hear your voice as soon as possible."

Elsa smiled and held Anna close to her as the younger girl leaned up and pressed her lips to the older woman's. Elsa leaned back across the bed and allowed Anna to do as she wished with her. Anna's hands snaked up and around her shirt and they rested on her chest. When Anna stopped kissing Elsa the barista opened her eyes curiously and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I think I…" Anna paused, blinking rapidly like she had just been surprised and shocked again, "I think I love you."

Elsa shut her eyes and opened her mouth to reply with an, "I love you too" but Anna lifted a hand to place on Elsa's lips. Elsa stared up into two shining green eyes and listened as Anna whispered softly, "The first thing I want to hear you say, is that you love me too."

"That was my plan from the start." Elsa replied, her voice muffled due to Anna's hand and Anna giggled. Elsa already thought Anna was wonderful in every way, and she looked even more wonderful when she laughed.

"I can't wait to hear your voice." Anna whispered, resting her head in the crook of Elsa's neck.

Elsa gave a small hum that Anna felt in a soft vibration. She had learned to recognize this sound as a sound of complete contentment. She played with the loose strands of Elsa's blonde hair and shut her eyes, letting the silence encompass her as it always did when she welcomed sleep.

As Anna drifted off, Elsa grabbed her phone from her pocket and jotted Rapunzel a quick text that read, "Hey, Punzy. I hope you're making some headway in your case. I have good news and bad news. The bad news: Anna said she saw the murderer earlier today trying to break into my house, but I stopped him so don't worry. I don't know where he went, but...don't be scared for us. People have tried to break in before since this house looks entirely uninhabited but nobody has been able to get in the doors or windows so I can assure you that both Anna, Olaf and I are perfectly safe. But still, you should get over here and check stuff out just in case if the guy left behind any clues as to who he might be. The good news: My brother came home a few days ago with a scratch ticket, and we somehow won 100,000 dollars-enough, and even more, for Anna's implants. I made an appointment with the surgeons and she's getting them in two days from now at the hospital downtown. I'm sure Anna is going to love hearing your voice for the first time. Have a great night! "

By the time the text reached Rapunzel who had been standing in front a board of suspects, Elsa was half asleep. Rapunzel had been sitting there, thinking, thinking and thinking. She had narrowed it down to about four suspects, but nothing was concrete yet. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and took a long sip of her black coffee, completely stressed. Her eyes were so sore from reading paperwork and looking at pictures, going through databases, and checking each suspects background as thoroughly as she could. So far, they hadn't received at least one lead.

Kai appeared behind her and said quietly, "Hey, Rapunzel."

"Hi."

"How are things?"

"Frustrating."

"I can tell. You've been staring at that board for almost an hour now."

"This guy keeps slipping past us somehow." Rapunzel said, running her fingers through her messy, unkempt hair, "I don't know how, but he's somehow getting past everything we've thrown at him. He's been silent for a few days now, and we both know that when he's quiet, he's just preparing another victim for us to find…that, and we don't know where the hell he is…"

When Rapunzel's phone vibrated with Elsa's text, Kai tilted his head and Rapunzel let out a frustrated huff, pulling out her phone impatiently. As she read the message from Elsa, her eyes widened and she became so stony and rigid that Kai thought she would never move again, but then her shoulders slumped and a hand flew to her mouth. Tears wet her tired eyes and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, hiccupping as she began to cry.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Kai said, placing his hands on her shoulders, "What the hell?"

"It's Anna and Elsa." Rapunzel replied with a small hiccup,"…Elsa's done it."

"She got the money?!" Kai shouted in astonishment.

"What's going on up here, my little detectives?" Belle asked from the doorway from the morgue. She walked into the room and stood with her hands on her hips, awaiting an answer from Rapunzel and Kai. Rapunzel wiped the tears of joy from her cheeks and she laughed softly, then said breathlessly, "Elsa did it…she did the impossible!"

"No way! She got the money?" Belle gasped, quickly crossing the space between her and Rapunzel. She wrapped her girlfriend into a tight hug and Rapunzel pressed her face into Belle's soft shoulder, letting out her tears of happiness and excitement.

"She's getting them in two days from now!"

"This is a miracle." Belle said, pressing her cheek to the crown of her head. Rapunzel picked up her phone again and wrote a hastily written reply to Elsa who was almost all the way asleep. Rapunzel sent it in time to keep her awake for a few more minutes as she read the reply, "Thank you, Elsa...You don't know how much this means for the both of us. Is Anna sleeping?"

"Yeah." Elsa replied in bed, careful not to awaken Anna who was now fully knocked out, "How did you know?"

Elsa waited a few moments, then her phone vibrated with Rapunzel's reply and she read the message: "Because whenever she gets REALLY excited and happy, if there's somewhere comfortable nearby, she passes right out." The barista chuckled and hugged the sleeping form of her lover, placing a kiss on her temple. She heard the soft footsteps of Olaf nearing her bedroom door, there was a pause, and he knocked gently.

"Come in." Elsa whispered.

Olaf poked his head in and looked about, then saw Anna sleeping peacefully in his sisters arms and hesitated a minute. When Elsa gestured for him to come in, he sneaked into the room silently on tip toes, closing the door behind him. He hopped up on the side of the bed and smiled affectionately at the woman who he considered to be his second mother.

"In two days then?" Olaf asked as quietly as he could.

"Yup." Elsa whispered, "Are you excited?"

"Yeah." Olaf curled up beside Elsa and rested his hand inside Anna's open palm, "I…can't wait to see her face when she hears for the first time."

"Me neither, buddy." Elsa smiled, "Me neither."

* * *

It had been nearly two hours since the doctors had taken Anna into the operating room to have the procedure done, and both Rapunzel and Elsa had been sitting together in the waiting room with Olaf in between them, coloring a picture for Anna in the waiting room's coloring book. Elsa was thrumming the arm of her chair with her fingers impatiently, and Rapunzel was listening to music on her ipod. Despite the distracting song coming through her headphones, she looked nervous. You could simply tell her mind was elsewhere.

"Will Anna be able to hear when she wakes up?" Olaf asked suddenly, his voice hushed due to the quiet calmness of the waiting room.

"No." Elsa answered, "We have to wait until Anna's ears heal from her surgery before they can activate the implants."

"How long will that be?" Olaf asked.

"Depending on how long it takes her to heal after her surgery." Elsa placed a hand on his back, "I'll say two or three weeks."

Olaf lowered his head and softly sighed, as his sister rubbed his back.

"What are you coloring?" Elsa asked.

"A picture for Anna." Olaf said, "I thought she might like to put it on her fridge or something..."

Rapunzel smiled at the boy and lifted her head to cast Elsa a glance. The blond caught her eye and the two looked at each other for a long while and Elsa smiled softly while Rapunzel shook her head, letting out an astonished sounding breath.

"I don't know how I can repay you for this amazing sacrifice." Rapunzel said, taking her headphones off, "the both of you." Olaf turned his head to smile at Rapunzel.

"We both wanted to do this for Anna." Elsa replied, sitting forward in her seat and folding her hands, "There's no need to thank us, but, we're so glad that we could do this for the both of you."

"You-"

"Excuse me?" came a voice from the operating room door. All three looked at the nurse expectantly, sitting up nervously, and going completely rigid with excitement, "Anna went through her surgery flawlessly, and is in the recovery room presently. She's just woken up now…You're free to come and see her."

Elsa stood first then Olaf and Rapunzel. The three moved so quickly after the nurse, the three were jogging. Rapunzel whispered to Elsa before the entered the recovery room, "I've always wanted to see Anna hopped up on anesthesia drugs. This should be interesting."

Elsa chuckled and Olaf took his sister hand.

"You should be proud, Olaf." Elsa said as the nurse pushed open the door to the recovering room, "In my opinion, you were the biggest part of this accomplishment."

"Me?" Olaf asked breathlessly as his eyes fell on the sight of Anna laying perfectly still, on the recovery bed, staring up at the ceiling blankly, dressed in a soft, comfortable looking hospital gown.

Rapunzel reached Anna first and as soon as the redhead saw her cousin leaning over her, she opened her mouth to say something, and remained like that for a full 60 seconds while Rapunzel, Elsa, and Olaf waited for her to say something-anything…but then Anna lifted her hand lazily and placed it on Rapunzel's face, saying in a voice that cracked awkwardly, "I like you."

"Yup." Rapunzel said with a voice muffled from Anna's hand as Elsa and Olaf busted out into uproarious laughter, "I should've brought my camera to film this."

"I agree." Elsa giggled, moving into Anna's field of vision. Rapunzel moved Anna's hand from her face and placed it down, watching with fascination as Anna, in her delirious state looked up and saw Elsa. The redhead went completely limp, staring up at the barista with half closed eyes, her quivering lips slightly parted. Rapunzel pinched herself slightly, trying not to smile as Elsa leaned over Anna and pressed a loving kiss to Anna's forehead.

The younger woman lifted her head and closed her eyes, breaking out in a tremendous grin until Elsa moved away. Anna reached out deliriously for Elsa's hand and the barista took it, rubbing small circles on the back of Anna's hand with her thumb. Then Anna said loudly, her voice cracking awkwardly again since she wasn't used to using her voice above a whisper, "I love you, E-elsa."

"Yes, I know." Elsa whispered, holding Anna's hand tighter and.

"I love you so much." Anna said.

Elsa laughed gently, "I know, Anna."

"Are you...who are you..." Anna asked and there was a moment for Elsa and Rapunzel where they both froze in horror upon the thought of Anna having amnesia but that all melted away as Anna continued, "I mean, I remember I love you a looooot, but...are you my girlfriend?"

"Yes." Elsa giggled, nodding.

"Whoa..." Anna blushed a bright red, "you're my girlfriend? How the hell did that happen?"

Elsa and Rapunzel burst out into giggles because they had never heard Anna swear ever.

"I mean...I really really really really-" as Anna went on, saying 'really' repeatedly, Rapunzel nudged Elsa's arm sharply and said, "Aren't you going to tell her you love her too?"

"She wanted to wait until she could hear for me to say it." Elsa replied, never breaking her adoring gaze from her babbling girlfriend who was still repeating the word 'Really.', "She wants it to be the first thing she hears from me."

Rapunzel smiled and chuckled softly as Anna finished, "Really really really really reeeaalllyyyy love youuuuuuu." Anna pointed up at Elsa and placed her pointer finger on the tip of Elsa's nose.

"I know, baby." Elsa chuckled, taking Anna's hand away from her face, and kissing the back of it. Seeing the breathless smile on Anna's face and realizing that in even in a state of unawareness and complete drowsiness, Anna was still the most adorable thing ever, Elsa fell in love with Anna all over again. She wanted to say that she loved Anna as well, more than anything, but she wanted to wait for Anna's implant activation to be able to say anything at all.

"Her ears look great!" Rapunzel said, walking around the bed to observe Anna's other ear from the other side, "They told me that they would be swollen and stuff, but they're just a little bit red. Do you think they'll let her be discharged today?"

"Heck if I know." Elsa said, smiling lovingly down at her girlfriend who couldn't tear her eyes away from Elsa, "I think once she starts waking up from this anesthesia we should ask the doctor."

"Okay." Rapunzel said, pacing back and forth, "So we have to wait a few weeks to make sure everything is okay in her head and then they'll activate the implants?"

"I guess." Elsa said curiously, watching Rapunzel pace, "Why are you walking like that?"

Rapunzel halted and sighed sadly, rubbing her face with her hands, and groaning tiredly in a reply, "I pace when I'm on a big case."

"Ah." Elsa replied, reaching down to brush Anna's hair with her fingers, "I'm sorry he's been able to elude you for this long.

"Me too." Rapunzel sighed.

"Hello everyone, hello everyone." said a happy looking man who came through the door into the recovery room carrying a clip board held in his right arm, "How are you all doing today?"

"Lovely." Elsa smiled down at her girlfriend.

"That's wonderful!" said the doctor, "And I'll tell you whats even more wonderful: Anna's surgery went flawlessly!"

"That's awesome!" Rapunzel said, clasping her hands together.

"Very awesome indeed!" the doctor went on, "Modern medicine and her surprisingly healthy state has allowed her to be ready to be ready to hear in about a week or less. She will be released once she starts coming out of that anesthetic induced state and will be allowed to go home."

"Who's the dude with the funny cape?" asked Anna Olaf quietly from the side.

"Are you sure?" Rapunzel asked the doctor, walking up to stand in front of him, placing her hands on her hips, "Now, do you have some stuff for us to know about Anna's implants?"

"I do, in fact, have a series of precautionary rules to go over with the both of you if something goes wrong during her healing process."

Both Elsa and Rapunzel looked to each other, then nodded simultaneously. Olaf who had pulled up a chair to look at Anna as Elsa and Rapunzel were talking, was holding Anna's hand and smiling at her as she grinned back goofily. The doctor finalized a few things with the two women, assured them again and again that Anna would be ready to have her implants activated by the end of the week, and they were free to call the hospital whenever Anna was ready.

"Thank you girls." Said the doctor, "I'll make the arraignments and a nurse will be by later to check up on you all if Anna isn't awake by then."

"Thank you so much." Elsa said.

"It's our pleasure." The doctor replied, before leaving the room with a smile. Rapunzel and Elsa sighed at the same time, then turned back to Anna just in time to watch her say to Olaf, "You look just like Elsie."

"Elsie?" Rapunzel asked smugly and Elsa blushed.

"You have the same face." Anna continued, touching Olaf's face and pinching his cheeks, "And eyes…You have her eyes…" she paused, "And face."

Elsa, Rapunzel and Olaf were greatly amused by Anna for the next half an hour until she began to slowly wake up from her anesthesia. Her words became clearer and quieter. Soon she was able to talk in sign language again. When she was speaking aloud, the majority of her words had been distorted anyway, half because she couldn't hear herself and half because she was completely out of it. Elsa and Anna talked to each other in sign language for a while until the nurse came in and helped Anna to her feet. She, supported by the nurse on one side and Rapunzel on the other, was carried down through the hospital's upper floor, through the elevator, and down into the parking lot where Anna tried walking by herself while Elsa lead her to Rapunzel's mustang. Once there, Anna plopped heavily down into the passenger's seat and thanked the nurse with a smile and a nod.

Rapunzel and Elsa thanked the nurse kindly, then Elsa helped Olaf inside and Rapunzel got into the driver's seat.

"Are you feeling okay?" Rapunzel asked Anna, in sign language as she started the car.

"I'm feeling wonderful." Anna replied drowsily, turning her head and pressing her cheek on the headrest, smiling goofily at her cousin who chuckled affectionately.

"Let's take her back to the house." Elsa said to Rapunzel, "So she can lay down and get comfortable."

"I kind of would like to take Anna back to Belle's place." Rapunzel said carefully, "I know that you are completely confident that no one can break into your house, but be that as it may, I would still like you and Olaf to come stay with me and Belle at her home not far from your own. You both are welcome to stay and she has tons of extra rooms for you guys to stay in...not to mention that it's a pretty classy place. I can assure you, you'll like it there. And you will be able to go back to your home soon after the murderer is brought into custody."

"Hmmm." Elsa hummed, rubbing the back of her neck in thought, "What do you think Olaf?"

"That sounds awesome!" Olaf said excitedly.

"Belle's place it is then." Rapunzel said, pulling out into the highway.

"Whoopee!" Anna cheered half heartedly, falling asleep slowly in the front seat.

"Wait a second, what about Sven?" Olaf asked.

"I'll drive by later tonight and pick him up." Rapunzel replied, "But for now, let's just get Anna somewhere comfortable."

Elsa nodded in agreement and Olaf craned his neck to look at Anna through the side view mirrors. Anna had moved herself so she could look out the side window, smiling dreamily at the trees and cars that they drove by, imagining what a car would sound like, what the sound of voices talking in casual conversation sounded like. She would know for sure what they sounded like soon enough…Her ears were sore, but her hopes were high…she turned to look back at Elsa and she smiled. Elsa smiled back and Anna thought about how amazing it would be to finally hear Elsa's voice.

And the more Anna thought about it, the more excited she became.

* * *

"Hello, Anna, how are you today?" said a kind looking woman as the four walked into the waiting room.

Anna smiled and mouthed the word 'hello' and 'I'm good'. Elsa and Rapunzel, along with Olaf, greeted the woman as well and she instructed them to follow her into a back room where Anna would have her implants activated for the very first time.

That very morning, Anna had awoken to Elsa laying in bed beside her, wide awake. The barista looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and Anna had smiled as she noticed, curled up on Elsa's stomach, his head on his sister's chest, Olaf who was sleeping peacefully. The morning was an exciting one to say the least. Despite Elsa's sleep deprivation and Rapunzel's stress with her case, the two of them forgot how exhausted, and stressed they were and focused completely on the events of that day. Belle wished them well and said she would be there when they returned from the hospital.

As Anna, Elsa, Rapunzel, and Olaf were guided through a hallway together, Anna reached down and grabbed Elsa's hand. Elsa could clearly see by the look on Anna's face that she was unbelievably nervous. Anna had done some thorough research and had prepared herself to hear according to what they would put through the implants to get her ready for voices and other sounds.

The woman lead them into a back room where she gestured for Elsa, Olaf and Rapunzel to sit down in seats throughout the room while there was one, solitary chair set aside for the patient, placed by a large set of computers with countless wires twisting out of the back, leading down under a desk. Much to Olaf's displeasure there were many buttons throughout the room which he knew he couldn't press. Anna, intimidated by the room, didn't want to be parted from either Elsa or Rapunzel so she asked the doctor with sign language if she could hold Rapunzel's hand as she turned the implant on. The doctor agreed, then sat down at the desk and turned on the equipment, gesturing for Anna to have a seat.

"Now, Anna," said the doctor, speaking aloud, and using sign language as well, "The first thing I'm going to do is run a series of tones through the implants. The first few will be low, and then they will gradually increase in pitch and volume. We will end the session with settling at a comfortable volume for you, and then I will fully turn on the implant and you will be able to hear our voices."

Anna nodded nervously and Rapunzel squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"It's going to feel strange at first because your brain isn't used to this sort of thing, but, you'll adapt with some practice." said the doctor, clicking on a few things on the computer screen, "So here comes the first set of pitches."

Anna squeezed her cousin's hand as tightly as she could, and Rapunzel took Anna's hand with both of her own. Elsa looked Anna directly in the eye and smiled comfortingly.

Then Anna felt something in both of her ears, and her head immediately cocked to the side in confusion. She made a face that neither Rapunzel or Elsa had seen before and the doctor laughed, then ran a series of other tones through the implant. Anna, hearing these for the first time, found it extremely strange and slightly frightening. The doctor stopped a few times to ask her if she was alright because Anna remained completely unresponsive for the first few tones. Anna would nod and smile at the doctor, but then would go back to looking completely taken aback and confused the next time the series of tones would sound. This process went on for about twenty minutes, the doctor working up the volume of the implants and sending specific tones, sharp and soft beeps through the pieces and Anna soon adapted, smiling finally and looked at Elsa and saying, "I can hear it!"

As soon as she had finished the words, Anna halted, nearly cutting off, then went completely silent, her jaw dropping and her eyes widening in complete and utter shock.

"Can you hear yourself?" the doctor asked softly.

All at once, Anna's hands flew to her face and she bent over, tears rushing to her eyes and spilling down her cheeks without warning.

Elsa and Olaf stood immediately and rushed over to Anna, crouching down in front of her. Elsa placed a hand on Anna's heaving back and Olaf placed his on Anna's leg.

"If she alright?" Rapunzel asked nervously and Anna hunched over farther, reaching out for something to grab onto. She settled for Elsa's arm and shoved her face into it, crying quietly.

"She heard you." The doctor said to Rapunzel, "I just now activated the implants and she can hear voices. They sound tinny and robot like now, but as time goes on she will adjust and her hearing will get better. I can assure you that things will sound less robot like in the future."

Anna's brain almost couldn't function clearly, she was so overwhelmed. She was so taken aback by the simple sounds of just the beeping , but when she actually heard the sound of actual words being said by her dear, loving cousin, she just couldn't handle it. She let the tears spill out and she gripped Rapunzel's hand and cried into Elsa's arm. The sound of her own voice had scared her nearly to death, but now she was hearing her own heartbeat as it pounded in her chest. She could hear the sharp intakes of breath she took as she let her tears out. She could hear the gentle sounds of the doctor shifting in her chair and she could hear Olaf standing to his feet and the pit pat of his shoes against the floor.

"Anna?" said Rapunzel and Anna lifted her head in response.

"I…I can hear you, Punzy." Anna cried, her voice sounding deafeningly loud to her. Rapunzel let those words sink in…

I can hear you.

Rapunzel reached up and pulled Anna into a hug and Anna buried her face into Rapunzel's hair, laughing breathlessly with joy, "You sound nothing like I though you would!"

"What did you think I sounded like?" Rapunzel asked, giggling.

"I though your voice was deeper." Anna replied

"Oh! Well THANKS A LOT." Rapunzel laughed, shaking her head in disbelief, "This is so..."

"I know." Anna giggled, "It's…so weird...and my voice is so loud."

"You'll adjust in time." Said the doctor from the side.

Anna turned her head upon hearing the voice and Rapunzel shook her head, unable to comprehend the enormity of the situation. Anna was hearing for the first time since she was very young. She was responding to voices, and replying with spoken words. Rapunzel turned her head and looked at Elsa who was crying softly off to the side, a massive smile on her face. The detective knew that the amazingly kind barista would never understand what she had done for Anna.

"Elsa!" Anna said slightly above her hushed voice. The barista met her eyes and grinned, rapt with joy, "S...say something!"

Elsa took both of Anna's hands, looked directly into her eyes and said with all her heart,

"I love you."

Anna froze for a second, then threw herself into Elsa's arms, sobbing. Elsa's voice sounded even better than what Anna had ever imagined. All the different voices she had come up with for Elsa couldn't compare to the beautiful sound of Elsa's true voice.

"I love you too, Elsa!" Anna whispered, "I love you so much." Elsa kissed her softly, and replied,

"I'm glad you like my voice."

"I do! I do!" Anna sniffed, wiping her nose with her forearm, "It's so wonderful to finally hear all of you."

"What does it sound like?" Olaf asked and Anna almost began crying again at the sound of the new voice.

"Well," she struggled to reply, hiccupping through her tears, "I can't really explain sound to someone who has been able to hear all they're life. It's just…kind of a sensation that I'm not used to."

"And that's an excellent way to describe it." said the doctor, "We're going to leave the volume at this setting and you can call us if you have any questions, okay?"

"Yes." Anna said, "Yeah…Thank you so much." The doctor smiled and then nodded.

Elsa and Rapunzel smiled at their girl and she looked up at them both, then said in a small voice, "I can hear myself breathing…"

For the next few moments, Anna sat in her chair and listened to Elsa and Rapunzel's voices as they spoke to her and one another. Rapunzel repeatedly thanking Elsa and Elsa saying that it was no trouble at all. Anna simply sat there, listening, and loving the sound of voices more and more as time went on. Rapunzel and Elsa both turned their attention to Anna, and she said, "Can we go outside so I can hear?"

"Yeah!" Elsa said enthusiastically, bending down to help Anna up.

As the redhead made her way down the hallway with her cousin and girlfriend with Olaf trailing behind, she heard the sound of her own footsteps mixing in with those behind her, heard the sound of doors opening and closing, the soft hum of casual conversation around the hospital's hallways, she head the sounds of patients and doctors speaking to one another in hushed voices as she passed doorways. She felt high sounds, low sounds, sharp sounds and soft sounds.

"So," came Olaf's voice from beside Anna, "how do you like hearing stuff now?" he reached up to hold Anna's hand.

"It's…amazing." Anna sighed dreamily.

Elsa and Rapunzel smiled at each other and as the four passed out into the outside parking lot, Anna lifted her head to the sun and smiled, listening to the birds in the trees, listening to the sounds of cars driving by and the wistle of the wind…

"So?" Elsa asked, standing beside her, "What do you think."

"It's…" Anna turned to Elsa with a breathless smile and new tears blooming in her eyes, "It's heavenly."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! :D Windstrider here to thank all of you for reading and reviewing and favoriteing. You guys are all awesome and I don't want you to forget that! Sorry if this chapter is a tad short, I'm in the process of working on "Remembering Her" which should be the next chapter I post so check that out. Thanks to all of you again!**

Anna sat beside Elsa, looking out across the amazing view behind Belle's manor, listening to Elsa sing her new favorite song. It had been almost four days since she had regained her hearing and each day seemed more wonderful than the last for all of them. Elsa took Anna to the mall, to the park, and to the beach. Everywhere the redhead went she experienced new sounds; like the sound of wind whistling through trees, the sounds of dogs barking, the crashing of waves meeting the soft sand on the shore, and the soft trickle of the stream that ran behind Belle's house. What Anna loved the most out of everything she heard, however, was the sound of Elsa's voice raised in song.

"May your past be the sound, of your feet upon the ground, carry o-o-on."

"Your voice is so pretty!" Anna swooned, cuddling up in Elsa's lap, "Sing some more!"

"Nah, no more for tonight, okay?" Elsa sighed, laying back on the soft grass, Anna rolling out of her lap and lying beside her. She took Elsa's hand and looked up at the sky, staring at the clouds as they rolled passed lazily in the evening summer sky.

"Can you sing me to sleep though?" Anna asked and Elsa chuckled warmly, playing with Anna's fingers.

"When have I ever refused singing you a lullaby?"

Anna smiled and shut her eyes, simply listening to the warm wind and enjoying the feeling of Elsa's gentle touch as she continued to play with her fingers.

"You know," Anna said dreamily, "If I were to just lay here with you for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly content."

"Nah." Elsa said smiling, "You'd get hungry and leave me."

"…You're probably right." Anna giggled, sitting up slowly and pushing her glasses up her nose, "But once I got my snack I'd come right back."

Elsa stretched her arms above her head, then looked at Anna and remained that way for a very long time, slowly relaxing as she focused more and more on Anna's face with every passing second. The redhead looked ahead of her, down the small hill, and at the trickling brook to the small willow tree that swayed in the soft breeze, and beyond that the quiet, dense forest.

"You know what we should do one day?" Anna asked, looking down at the barista, "I think we should explore that forest over there! What do you think? We could go looking for weird caves or lakes or…we could find a special place that we go that we could call our own! OH! And what if we'd find something special like a secret that someone's left in the forest!" Anna gestured excitedly, "Think of it as something magical! Like…like NARNIA! Wouldn't it be cool if we found some kind of massive tree that had a hole at the base and whenever you'd walk through it you'd be transported into someplace magical like Narnia where we could meet talking animals, be queens of a whole beautiful land and you could wear armor and be in battles and take me on horse rides and we'd sit on the beach in our kingdom and eat food fit for royalty and we'd go down in history as the greatest queens in all of that land forever! Wouldn't that be cool? Elsa? Wouldn't it be cool?"

As Anna was babbling on and on and on, Elsa closed her eyes and simply listened. The longer Elsa listened to Anna, the more sure she was that she was the most joyful person in her life. The simple sound of Anna's voice was enough for Elsa to stop and listen to every word.

"Elsa? Are you listening to me?" Anna asked, "Elsa? Hellooo?"

Anna waved her hand in front of Elsa face until Elsa responded by slowly opening her eyes, sitting up, and pulling Anna in for a hug.

"Hmm!" Anna hummed as her cheek was pressed into Elsa's soft shirt, hearing the soft rustle of the fabric against her ear, "You feel so nice, Elsa."

Elsa laughed lightly and kissed Anna's temple. The younger woman heard the soft sound of Elsa's kiss and she shivered in response, nestling her head under Elsa's chin comfortably. Suddenly, from the back porch, Belle threw open the screen door and called loudly, "Hey you guys! Dinner is ready!"

"And it's delicious!" Rapunzel called from somewhere behind Belle inside the house.

"I'll tell you something ELSE that's delicious!" Belle smiled smugly, looking back at Rapunzel who was setting the table, "You in an apron."

Elsa and Anna rolled their eyes, smiling at each other. Elsa helped Anna to her feet, putting her arm around her waist, and guiding her to the front porch, taking her time on the way.

"So I was thinking," Elsa began, grinning, "I never really did take you out on a date now did I?"

Anna looked up at her girlfriend curiously as they walked up the stairs and crossed the back porch, then asked with a suspicious looking smile, "Are you asking me out?"

"Maybe." Elsa teased, opening the screen door for Anna, "Maybe not."

"Oh please." Anna laughed, "You TOTALLY wanna take me out."

"I said: maybe, maybe not!" Elsa chuckled, following Anna inside.

"If we were to, say, go out on a date," Anna continued, flicking Elsa's shoulder playfully, "where would you take me?"

"Someplace classy." Elsa answered as she sat down heavily at the head of the table, playing with the silverware that had been laid out, "Not too classy though. Not too expensive either. Just a nice quiet place where the portion sizes aren't too tiny and the waiters don't have to wear suits or uniforms."

"That sounds lovely." Anna replied, taking a seat next to Elsa, "Where would we go after?"

"Hmm…depends on where you would want to go. Maybe to the beach or the park to watch the sun set because I know how much you like to watch the dusk."

"And then?" Anna placed her cheek in her hand, leaning forward slightly, half closing her eyes and smiling dreamily.

"We could watch the stars..." Elsa said, "Or we could go to see a movie."

"How about both?" Anna asked, "We could watch the sun set, go to the movies, then come back here and watch the stars."

"That's perfect!" Elsa clapped her hands once together and grinned at Anna, "Then it's settled! I'm taking you out tomorrow! But hold on... I didn't actually ask you out..."

Anna scoffed, "The answer is YES, you dork!"

Anna laughed and reached across the table to take Elsa's hand. Elsa gave that adorable little half smile that Anna loved and her heart swelled in her chest.

"I can't wait." Elsa sighed.

"Me neither." Anna giggled.

"Can't wait for what?" Olaf asked as he charged into the room with a dog treat in his hand, Sven tumbling after.

"Oh I'm just taking your sister out on a date." Anna said smiling.

"Wait a minute, YOU'RE taking ME?" Elsa asked sitting up slightly.

"We're taking each other." Anna replied quickly.

"I asked you!"

"Not really, you said MAYBE."

"But then I asked you directly."

"I THOUGHT 'yes' far before you even asked."

"Girls, girls." Belle scolded, setting down a bowl of mashed potatoes and corn. Rapunzel set down an entire roasted chicken and said roughly,

"Stop arguing like an old married couple and eat up!"

Belle slapped Rapunzel's arm as she laughed and Olaf pushed Sven down as he tried to get a bite of the chicken on the table. Anna giggled and turned to smile lovingly at Elsa who was watching everything going on with her makeshift family she had somehow created with Anna. Everything, to Elsa, seemed to be exactly what it would be like to be a part of a real family. It had always just been her and Olaf doing what they wanted, getting along with their own rules, but now that they had Rapunzel, Belle, and Anna, she felt like she was responsible for them all somehow and yet...the hole in her heart she never knew she had felt was mended.

"What's your deal?" Rapunzel asked Elsa as she sat down and pulled up the bowl of mashed potatoes, "You look like you're high."

"I'm just happy." Elsa said with a smile.

"…Same thing as high."

"Shut up, Punzy." Belle sighed tiredly, shoveling oversized amounts of mashed potatoes on her plate, "I bet this is new for you and Olaf, being a part of a family like this."

Elsa nodded in reply and crossed her arms. Anna, who was digging into a corn cob beside the barista, stopped her chewing to notice Olaf who was looking at Rapunzel with a strangely familiar expression on his face. it took Anna a moment to recognize it, but she realized that the face he was making was identical to the way Elsa looked at Anna when they were having a moment together. She smiled into her corn cob and silently began giggling as Rapunzel noticed Olaf out of the corner of her eye. He looked at her straight on, smiling goofily.

Rapunzel awkwardly turned away from Belle, mid conversation and asked the boy softly, "You alright, kid?"

"Yep." Olaf said with a small giggle.

"Okay then…" Rapunzel replied, smiling, but narrowing her eyes at the same time, "You don't seem like it."

"I'm absolutely wonderful." Olaf sighed.

"Oh…my god." Belle whispered, covering her mouth with her hand and recognizing the look Olaf had(Much to Anna's amusement) and said, "looks like I've got a bit of competition here, Punz."

Rapunzel didn't understand what Belle meant until she turned to look at Olaf again. The detective smiled yet again at Olaf, but then had a fleeting moment of realization, then smiled a very different smile. She chuckled warmly and rested her hand on Olaf's head to ruffle his hair.

Elsa sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, then leaned over and whispered in Anna's ear, "His first crush."

"How cute." Anna giggled.

As the small family ate their dinner together, talking about daily life and random occurrences at the many places Elsa and Anna has visited together since Anna had gotten her hearing back, they avoided the subject of the murderer as much as they could. At this point, however, it was inevitable to bring up the subject since it was a massive part of everyone's daily lives. With Belle and Rapunzel working every day all day on finding this man, their conversation oftentimes involuntarily turned to their case. A body hadn't shown up in about a week or so, so Rapunzel and Belle suspected that the murderer had been going through what they called: A silent stage. A silent stage was when the murderer went completely silent, untraceable, undetectable until the next body was found along with clues as to his whereabouts.

Belle and Rapunzel had done their best to keep the subject subtle, but there really was no avoiding it.

"So hey uhh…" Anna whispered to Elsa, "There's been something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Hmm?" Elsa asked, her mouth full. Anna gestured for Elsa to lean down so she could whisper in her ear. The redhead pressed her lips up to Elsa's ear and then whispered in a low tone,

"I wanted if you would like to take a shower with me."

Elsa nearly spat out her food.

"A what?!" Elsa shouted, sitting back in her seat and grabbing the table.

"HUSH!" Anna said, rolling her eyes as everyone else cast confused and curious stares at the two, "Come here, you butt!" She took Elsa's arm and dragged her away from the dinner table and into the other room where the two could speak alone.

"Like I was saying-"

"A shower?!" Elsa asked, flushing red, "TOGETHER!?"

"First of all," said Anna, placing a hand on Elsa's chest, "…Shut up. Second, since we've been together this long, and we've done so much together and trust each other and love each other...I've kind of just been waiting for the right moment to y'know…turn it up a notch."

"NO! No notches! There will be no notch turning!" Elsa whispered hoarsely, shaking her head vigorously, "Notch turning is out of the question!"

Anna, thinking quickly, reached up and pulled apart the buttons on her shirt, revealing a lacy bra underneath covering her breasts. Anna thought it wasn't possible for Elsa to get any redder, but when the barista saw Anna's chest covered only by a tight fitting bra, she turned an extremely (Almost humorously) dark shade of red, nearing purple.

"What could it hurt?" Anna asked slowly in a smooth, low tone, "I mean it would only be for a few minutes. And…nothing would come of it. No one has to know. It will just be you and me…alone…in one of the showers on the far side of the mansion where there will be no chance of anyone seeing, or hearing us."

Elsa tore her eyes from Anna's chest and fought to focus on her eyes like any respectable person would've done but Elsa simply wasn't able too. It was a part of Anna she had never seen before, and there was so much more unexposed skin underneath that shirt…free for Elsa to explore, to mark, to deem her own…

"Uhm…no one will find out?" Elsa asked playing with her shirt.

"Elsa," Anna sighed, buttoning up her shirt again, "What are you five years old? Even if someone did find out, like Belle or Rapunzel, who is there for them to tell?! And if your brother hears us I can bet you any money that he wouldn't understand."

"Okay, okay fine." Elsa said nervously, shaking her hands, "I'll let you turn the notch a little."

"Awesome!" Anna said, throwing her arms around Elsa's neck and hugging her tightly, "Tonight I want to get to know you as much as I possibly can."

"Notice that I said the word LITTLE." said Elsa.

"Meh." Anna shrugged, placing a kiss on Elsa's lips before making her way back into the kitchen to talk with Belle and Rapunzel. They immediately inquired her about her and Elsa's sudden leave from the table to which Anna hastily replied, "Ah nothing. We were just discussing something that needed to be attended to."

Elsa, meanwhile, nervously sat down on the stairs and couldn't help but start fantasizing about all the things she could try on Anna that night. She knew that when it came to sex, she was not the more dominant of the two. But when the time came, Elsa was sure she could do the right things. This would be a learning experience for the both of them. Elsa, unlike Anna, hadn't masturbated ever because she simply never thought to. She had been curious, sure, and tried only once, but it felt wrong doing it, so she never did. Now that she was at the doorstep of full out sex, she was completely nervous about it.

Anna, however, was completely ecstatic for the evening's event-to-be. She was determined to give Elsa a good time. But most of all, she wanted to experiment. She had always wanted to try something like this, and now that she had had the actual natural urges to have sex with Elsa, she was more than entitled to try. She knew Elsa was uneasy, but once natural instinct took over, everything would be fine.

"Where did Elsa go?" Olaf asked Anna as they finished up their dinner.

"Oh I dunno." Anna said, dismissively, "Could you guys take Elsa and my turn at the dishes tonight? We'll do it twice in a row! Pleeeaasse?"

Belle and Rapunzel rolled their eyes simultaneously and resisted the urge to give the excuse that they had been working constantly on an exhausting case that no one could crack…but they didn't want to take Elsa and Anna away from a good time together. (Both of them had figured out what the two were planning long before supper had ended.)

Anna and Olaf placed their dishes in the sink, while Belle and Rapunzel got to work. On her way to find Elsa, Anna was interrupted by Olaf who asked Anna if she wanted to play monopoly.

"I'm sorry, bud." Anna said, picking him up and resting him on her shoulders, "But how about tomorrow night?"

"Oh..." Olaf said disappointedly, "...Okay." Anna, feeling guilty about not giving Olaf attention, took him up to his room, read to him for a few minutes, then kissed his forehead and told him goodnight. Olaf looked at her sadly, and said, "Where's Elsa?"

"I don't know." Anna said honestly, smiling affectionately down at the little man, "But when I find her, I'll tell her you said goodnight."

Olaf smiled and cuddled up under his blankets and said with a yawn, "Okay."

Anna left the room and began her search for Elsa. Belle's mansion was large and had countless rooms where a game of hide and seek would be almost impossible to finish. So Anna, at some point, had the thought that Elsa was hiding from her since she had seemed so nervous earlier...how DARE she...

So Anna resorted to calling out Elsa's name until she got a response.

Elsa, who had decided to retreat up the stairs and into the bathroom on the far right side of the manor's upper floor, had been pacing the bathroom floor and rubbing her face constantly, trying to think of a good way to greet Anna once she walked into the room. She had throught and thought and thought to no end until she heard Anna's approaching footsteps, and her calls. Elsa then immediately, without thinking, stripped off her clothes, laid them out on the floor, got in the shower and started the water.

Anna turned her head upon the sound of the shower coming to life, and she grinned, then moved toward the sound. Upon reaching the door that lead into the bathroom, she hesitated in front of the door and laid her hand on the knob…

"Anna?"

The redhead whipped round, pushing her glasses up her nose to see Belle standing in the doorway at the end of the hallway. She curiously stared at Anna, looking her up and down, then she broke out into a massive, smug grin. Anna flushed a light shade of red and stuttered, "W-w- what do you want, Belle?"

"Nothing special." Belle giggled, "I just came to find you because Rapunzel wanted to talk to you about her work schedule this week…I guess it can wait for now though so…you go ahead and do whatever you were going to do over here."

"Thanks, I…I will." Anna said, turning the door knob and slowly slipping inside the bathroom. She gave Belle one last awkward glace from the crack of the door before she slowly shut it and locked it. Anna sighed slowly and said,

"Well, we aren't being very subtle now are we?"

"Not nearly enough." Said Elsa from the shower.

"Yeah, so I tucked your brother into bed tonight, and once we're done you should go in and….and…" Once Anna had turned around fully to look at Elsa, she didn't expect to see the shower curtain drawn back completely allowing full view of Elsa. She trailed off as she watched Elsa throw her head back in the stream of water, running her fingers through her long, platinum blonde hair, the water running down her body.

"So…" Elsa said, leaning against the back of the shower, "What the hell are you doing over there? Come on."

The very sight of the barista naked made Anna's face turn almost as red as Elsa's face was earlier. The curves of Elsa's hips made Anna's mouth water. As the redhead clumsily pulled off her clothes, unable to tear her eyes off of Elsa's sculpture of a body, she stuttered, "I expected you to be amazing, but just…not THIS amazing…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elsa chuckled, shaking her hair.

"I mean you're breathtaking…"

"And this breathtaking body is all yours." Elsa said, running her hand down her chest, "Now come here"

As soon as the words left Elsa's lips, Anna was making her way towards her. Elsa's charade of confidence was working to her advantage. Truthfully, she was terrified beyond belief, heart pounding in her chest, and the hot water drizzling down her body was not helping. Anna stepped into the bathtub and immediately took the dominant side, crashing her lips up against Elsa's and pinning her against the back of the shower.

The combination of Anna's kisses, the water caressing her sensitive body, and feeling of bare breasts pressing up against her own sent electricity up and down Elsa's spine. Soon, unfamiliar sounds began to escape from her throat as Anna continued on with her exploration of Elsa's body.

"That's it." Anna sighed heavily, "All I want to hear is that beautiful voice of yours raised in complete ecstasy."

"Oh GOD, Anna!" Elsa moaned softly, pressing herself against the younger woman, "This is so crazy. And weird. But I'm just glad I'm doing this with you!"

"Me too." Anna whispered, sharply nipping Elsa's neck.

Anna leaned forward and trailed kisses down Elsa's collarbone, reaching her chest, then she began to crouch as she went lower, kissing Elsa's smooth abdominals and downward still...The moan that escaped from Elsa's lips was nothing short of erotic for Anna and her own hand flew down to her own womanhood to tease herself...

The rest of the evening, for the both of them, was a complete blur.

* * *

When Elsa woke up, she was on the bathroom floor with Anna draped across her stomach, both were still very naked, but very clean to say the least. The shower was still running, and she didn't know how long it had been that way, but she gently moved Anna off of her stomach, careful not to wake her, and stumbled over to the shower. She blurrily fumbled with the water control and when she had successfully turned the water off, she sat heavily down on the side of the bathtub, looking over at Anna who still lay unconscious on the bathroom floor. Elsa, not liking the sight of Anna laying on the cold, hard tiles decided to take Anna back to their bed. Elsa pulled on some of the clothes she wore last night, wrapped Anna up in a bath towel, then picked her up bridal style and carried her back to their bedroom, stumbling this way and that, praying that neither Belle nor Rapunzel would run into her naked in the hallway. Elsa reached her room eventually and laid Anna down on their bed as softly as she could. The Barista smiled sleepily as Anna rolled out of the towel and began to shiver, then grabbed her blankets and cocooned herself underneath them, humming in pleasure as she began to warm up.

Elsa sighed and got under the covers herself, then whispered to her lover, "Good night, freckles."

"Hmmm…?" Anna hummed, slowly opening her eyes to see Elsa lying beside her, "…What...just happened?"

"We'll talk about it later." Elsa smiled, placing a kiss on Anna's forehead, "It's in the early hours of the morning and you need your rest."

"Okay." Anna sighed, moving up closer to Elsa and pressing the delicate, yet, strong form of Elsa to herself, "I love you."

"I love you too." Elsa smiled, shutting her eyes and sighing in contentment. There was a few moments of silence in which Elsa began to drift off to the sweet sensation of sleep when suddenly she heard from beside her,

"Elsa?"

"What is it?"

"Can you hum the slow version of every time we touch?"

Elsa chuckled, "Of course, love." And she did so until the rise and fall of Anna's chest became constant. Elsa watched Anna's face for a few minutes as the young woman slept and her eyes slowly shut, and she gave over to sleep.

* * *

"Elsa and Anna haven't woken up yet." Belle told Rapunzel as the two sat at the table for breakfast.

"Ehh, let 'em sleep." Rapunzel smiled as she flipped through her journal, "After what we heard last night they should be exhausted."

"Yeah that was impressive how loud they were." Belle chuckled as she poured herself a cup of hot coffee.

"It was their first time." Rapunzel said, smiling, "The least we can do is simply not mention it."

"Imagine Elsa's face if we said, 'hey we heard you guys getting some in the shower last night.'!"

Rapunzel laughed lightly and started a new entry in her journal, writing about her case and writing about Belle, her cousin, and Elsa along with Olaf and how everything was going well in her family life. She was always sure she wrote all the positive things about her life in the journal, because when she would come back to it years later, she would want to read of the happy times, not the bad times so she refrained from mentioning the serial killer in her pages.

She couldn't help but mention him a few times, however. But when she did, she kept it lighthearted, although her heart was burdened in reality. She hoped to look back at this case as a triumph in the near future. There was no way she was letting this become a cold case.

When she realized Belle had become silent after a while, she lifted her eyes to see Belle with her cheek in her hand and watching Elsa with a soft, affectionate smile on her face.

"Hmm." Rapunzel hummed questioningly, placing a period at the end of the sentence she had just written.

"I love watching you write." Belle said simply, lifting her cup of coffee to her lips.

"Well then." Rapunzel sighed, smiling, "I love watching you too...especially when you're reading or doing an autopsy…minus the gore."

"You were always squeamish." Belle chuckled, crossing the space between her and Rapunzel. She leaned down and Rapunzel shut her eyes as Belle pressed her lips to her cheek, holding it out for a few seconds, then letting go slowly, nuzzling her nose and placing a light kiss on her lips as well.

"Let's try to have a good day today, okay?" Rapunzel said to her partner, "I don't want to be discouraged today by this case."

"I agree." Belle said, "Let's get going soon. I need to finish my autopsy."

"Good morning." Came a small voice as Olaf entered the room.

"Hey, bud." Rapunzel greeted him, patting the seat next to her. He hopped up onto the chair and Belle placed a plate of waffles, eggs, and bacon in front of him which he hastily got into. Rapunzel watching him eat for a few minutes, then wrote in her journal, "My cousin's girlfriend's brother is beginning to look more like Elsa every day. The features on his face are almost identical to that of his sister. If they weren't so far apart in age, I'd believe they were identical twins. The little guy seems to have developed a small crush on me much to my and Belle's amusement. He will stare at me when he thinks I'm not looking. I won't be surprised if he starts asking me for a lock of my hair next."

"Do you and Belle have to go away all day again?" Olaf asked Rapunzel. She tapped her pen on the page and replied sadly, "Yeah."

"Oh." Olaf replied in a slight disappointed tone then continued so shyly that Rapunzel and Belle smiled and resisted giggling, "I love my sister and Anna, but I would like to spend more time with YOU."

"I promise that you and I will hang out in the future." Rapunzel reassured the boy as she stood and placed her empty breakfast plate into the sink.

"Awesome!" Olaf said excitedly. Rapunzel reached down and picked up her journal, closing the leather bound book and tucking the pen into the spine. The detective, hallway to the door, turned and waved to Olaf. He got out of his chair and ran to her. She opened his arms for him and pulled him into a hug.

"Be careful." Olaf sighed. And Rapunzel shut her eyes, hugging him tightly in reply. Belle stood by and her chest swelled with happiness seeing her always-tough partner hugging a little boy who was concerned for her safety. Rapunzel stood tall and told him, "I'll be careful as long as you stay safe here while I'm gone, okay? Stay upstairs and don't answer the door for any-"

Just as she was about to finish her sentence, there came from the front door the sounds of someone knocking rapidly. Rapunzel looked over her shoulder to cast Belle a look, wordlessly asking her, 'were you expecting anyone today?'. The medical examiner shrugged her shoulders and looked just as confused as Rapunzel.

The detective walked quickly to the door and turned the knob, slowly pulling it open a crack to see who was on the other side. A tall, blonde, disgruntled looking man, twisting a ratty looking cleaning rag stood at the door, nervously looking inside and impatiently tapping his foot on the sidewalk.

"Is…is Elsa here?" asked the man anxiously. Rapunzel stared at him for a while longer, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Belle, beside her and Olaf, behind the two women, stared in wait to see what Rapunzel would say.

"How do you know Elsa?" Rapunzel asked.

"I-I'm her cousin." Kristoff said hastily, trying to push his way inside, but Rapunzel held the door fast, "Can you just let me in? There's something I need from her."

"Is it more money?" Olaf demanded from behind the two women.

Rapunzel turned her head and stared at Olaf very hard before asking him, "Is this guy related to you?"

"Yes." Olaf said, crossing his arms, "He's my he always wants something from us."

"Listen, it's important this time." Kristoff said in a hushed voice, looking behind him, over his shoulder, "I owe some guys some money and they're not going to-"

"And what makes you think Elsa is just going to hand you over the money?" Rapunzel asked viciously, "And to be honest I think you've come to the wrong house. I'm a fucking cop, you idiot. What kind of money do you owe? Drug money?"

"I need to pay off a loan!" Kristoff shouted loudly, throwing his arms in the air, "Nothing else! I just needed some groceries and asked a buddy of mine to give me a loan. I didn't know that he was demanding interest so I owe him almost fifty dollars!"

"And who do you think you are coming to-"

"Punzy…" came Elsa's groggy voice from behind them, all four looked at her with surprised expressions,"Let the moron in."

"Oh thank GOD!" Kristoff shouted, muscling his way in the house, rudely shoving Rapunzel out of the way who snorted harshly and Belle's cheeks grew hot with anger at the man's intrusiveness. Elsa, still very sleepy and half asleep, reached up lazily and pattered Kristoff's cheek and handed him some money, then patted his other cheek a few times…then slapped it. It was a gentle slap, but it was still a slap.

"OW!" Kristoff wined.

"That's what you get for being the biggest louse on planet earth every time you come around." Elsa growled, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "I'm going back to bed to rest. Kristoff, you parasite, get out. Belle and Punzy, have a good day at work. Olaf, you play wherever and don't answer the door for anyone. If you need anything just come and get me."

With that, everyone obeyed. Belle and Rapunzel left with annoyed and slightly disgusted glances at Kristoff, Olaf went off into the living room to find Sven, and Kristoff tucked the money hastily into his pocket making for the door. As Elsa walked up the stairs lazily, she halted and the very top, made sure everyone was gone, then kept on her way.

As Kristoff walked outside, her stopped in his tracks, then pressed his back up against the smooth wood of the front door. There was no way in hell he was leaving so soon. He had nowhere to go, and even if he was a leech, he had no choice. His cousins were the only ones who could help him and he was going to get as much help as he could. He waited until Belle and Rapunzel were gone and all was quiet inside the house to go back inside. Then he opened the door and snuck back in. He walked inside and sighed silently, forgetting to shut the door after him, then went to look for the refrigerator.

Olaf, out in the living room, heard the soft shuffle of heavy footsteps making their way across the floor into the kitchen. He froze immediately and thought about the murderer at large. What if it was him? The young boy sat rigid and listened intently. The footsteps made their way into the kitchen, then he heard the refrigerator door open slowly. Olaf craned his neck to see through the two conjoining rooms…

"Kristoff?!" Olaf cried.

"HMM?!" the man asked, surprised upon being caught, "Ugh. You."

"Why are you in here?" Olaf asked accusingly, stomping from the living room and into the kitchen where he poked Kristoff's leg.

"I was hungry." Kristoff replied, staring very hard at Olaf, thinking 'who does this little squirt think he is, talking back to me?'

"You've technically broken in."

"Technically." Kristoff said, rummaging through the cupboards, "Hey, where's the peanut butter?"

As Olaf and Kristoff were having a heated conversation in the kitchen, a hooded figure stood silently at the door that was left open by Kristoff, observing the boy and the blonde man and their small quarrel. The cold eyes focused in on the small boy…

Olaf was still talking to Kristoff with his back turned as the figure silently moved inside of the building. Kristoff, who was bent down, searching for food was unaware of the hooded man's presence. The figure waited for thier chance to trike, then just as Olaf was turning to look behind him, the figure darted across the floor between him and Olaf and before Olaf could fully get his scream out, the dark figure grabbed him by the arms, put his hand over Olaf's mouth and dragged him out the door as quickly and silently as he could. Kristoff, hearing the beginning of Olaf's scream, whipped around and saw the figure jumping out of the door that was hanging wide open. His jaw dropped when he heard Olaf's panicked cry from outside, "ELSAAA!"

Elsa sat up in bed immediately when she heard the muffled scream of her brother. The barista bounded across the room, down the stairs and out into the street, bolting after Kristoff who was running for all his might after a black hummer.

"What happened?!" Elsa roared, grabbing Kristoff's shirt and yanking him backwards so that his hit the ground with a thud, looking up at Elsa with wide eyes.

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!" Elsa demanded.

Kristoff shakily lifted his hand and pointed forward at the black hummer driving away.

Then, Elsa felt a feeling she had never felt before. It was a mixture of feelings that made her red hot all over. Anger, rage, fear, loss, hatred and overwhelming worry flooded her system all at once as she realized what had happened. Kristoff stumbled to his feet and, panting, looked at the hummer driving away and then at Elsa who remained completely still, staring after the car with wide, blue eyes filled with startling fear.

"E-elsa?"

"SHUT UP!" Elsa screamed at her cousin, grabbing his shirt and shaking him violently, tears rolling down her cheeks, "HE TOOK HIM!"

"I-I-"

"He took my baby brother!"


	9. Chapter 9

There were sharp, whining police sirens and the crackle of police tape being dragged out across a crime scene.

There was crying and wailing from Elsa.

Kristoff was begging desperately for mercy and forgiveness as Elsa tried to grab him.

Rapunzel had no choice but to tear the two of them apart so they wouldn't hurt each other, yelling harshly at the both of them.

Belle was talking to Rapunzel sharply and Rapunzel replied back in the same tone.

These were the sounds Anna didn't like.

When she had heard Elsa's piercing scream from outside, Anna pulled on the nearest set of clothes she could find, and ran from the bedroom, out the front door that was hanging wide open to see Elsa shaking Kristoff violently by the shirt and screaming, "This is all your fault! All your fault!" When Anna was finally able to pry the two apart from each other, she asked Elsa what had happened and all the woman could say was, "He took him. He took him. He took him."

When Elsa couldn't respond to Anna's questions of 'who took who?' it caused Anna to become extremely confused. Kristoff quickly told her what had just happened and it took Anna a few seconds to comprehend the enormity of the situation. she immediately called her cousin.

Rapunzel and Belle were on their way to work when they received the call about Olaf. Rapunzel nearly veered off of the road in her shock, then handed Belle the phone and the medical examiner gasped in horror. Rapunzel called a squad car over for backup. Upon arriving at the manor, The detective found Elsa trying to beat down Kristoff, Anna the only thing keeping him safe. Elsa made many grabs for the man, but Anna stood in front of him, keeping Elsa away trying to get her under control. Elsa couldn't lay a finger on Anna no matter how much she wanted to hurt Kristoff.

The detective and medical examiner got out of the car and ran to the three in a tussle in the front yard, tearing the blonde away from the others. Belle pushed Kristoff back and told Anna forcefully to sit at the steps of the house and wait. all Elsa could say was, "He took him." And that was enough for the detective. The police arrived shortly after and took Kristoff aside to question him while Elsa was taken to the other side of the yard and separated from him.

Belle took Elsa's face in her hands and tried to get her to focus but the barista couldn't. She simply broke down into tears every time she was talked to or tried to talk herself. Her hands shook and her breathing became more rapid with every passing second. The doctor began to fear that Anna would hyperventilate. The barista was completely unresponsive in her shock.

For Elsa, the fact that her little brother, the one person whom she loved the most in the world, had been stolen by a serial killer and would probably be tortured and killed nearly drove her out of her mind with fear. Just the thought of someone hurting her brother in any way made her so enraged it scared herself.

"You have to help me." Elsa begged, grabbing Belle's arms and squeezing her biceps so hard she winced, "You have to help me get my brother back!"

"We will!" Bell said to Elsa's relief, "We'll do all we can to find him."

Anna who was hanging back from the scene slowly walked up to the porch steps and sat down, covering her face with her hands. She never expected something like this to happen. Then again, nobody had expected this. But what bothered the young woman the most after the fact that Olaf had been captured, was that her dear Elsa had been reduced to a shivering, panicking being.

"Alright everyone!" came Rapunzel's voice above all others. Everyone quieted down to listen to what she had to say.

"Listen up!" she called, "This case has now become personal. That little boy is my future nephew, and my good friend's little brother. He's done more than you know for me and my family. So as of now, everyone has to step up their game and find this kid before he ends up like all the rest, alright?"

There came grunts of approval from the other cops and from Rapunzel herself, a nod. The brunette cop dismissed everyone and then thought of if it was necessary to remove everyone from the manor…but in Elsa's state and Anna the way she was, she wanted to leave them where they felt the most comfortable.

"Punzy." Said Belle, approaching her from across the yard, "Elsa…she's-"

"I know." Rapunzel interrupted, moving her partner aside, "Let me talk with her."

"Good luck getting her to answer you." Said the medical examiner, "She's a state of post-traumatic shock."

The detective moved so that she was standing directly in front of the blonde, directly in her line of sight so he had no choice but to look at her, Belle standing beside her tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

"Elsa." Rapunzel said firmly. She waited for Elsa to respond. When she was finally able to focus in on the two Elsa said in a whisper, "I-is Anna alright?"

Belle sighed in relief and Rapunzel smiled warmly, placing a hand on Elsa's arm, "Yes." she said gently, "Anna's okay. She's worried about you."

"I know. I…I overreacted." Elsa said, reaching up with a shaking hand to roughly run her fingers through her hair.

"It's alright." Rapunzel comforted her, rubbing Elsa's upper arm comfortingly, "You snapped out of it quicker than most people would in this situation. Now. I'm going to need you to be strong for us, okay?"

"I'll do my best." Elsa replied, still shaking, but trying her best to not panic again.

"Good." The detective said, pulling the taller woman in for a gentle hug, "We'll find him, Elsa. I promise you we will."

"O-okay." Elsa said, hugging her back weakly, "I just…I don't know what to do right now."

"Come with me." Belle said, taking Elsa's hand and guiding her toward the house, supporting her on her shoulder. Rapunzel watched Elsa stagger alongside the medical examiner, still breathing heavily but trying to get a hold of herself. Anna who had been watching from the porch, stood and rushed quickly to her girlfriend. She put her hands on Elsa's face, looked her in the eye for a few moments. Elsa managed a weak smile and in response Anna kissed, then opened her arms from a hug.

The detective watched from afar with a heavy heart as Elsa collapsed in Anna's arms, the weight finally caving through. Rapunzel realized that Olaf was Elsa's life. She had spent all of her time with him, nearly every waking moment, loving him, caring for him, teaching him things, showing him how to be a good person…and she depended on him in ways he didn't understand. In a sense, Olaf was not only Elsa's brother but he was her child as well. She had raised him since birth. And she had raised him well.

Anna squeezed the weeping woman close to her and kissed her ear, whispering gentle words of comfort and Elsa adored the words that flooded from Anna's lips. They seemed to be the only thing keeping her from willingly blacking out.

"Anna." Belle said softly, "Help her inside and take her up to bed. Distract her. Talk about something other than Olaf. Give her time to recuperate, okay? Read to her, watch a movie with her, just make sure she gets rest and is relaxed. Make sure she eats. It doesn't matter how little, she just needs to get something in her stomach. Soup is preferable. Now...Rapunzel and I most likely won't be home until later tonight, but text us if something happens alright?"

"What if he comes back?" Anna asked nervously.

"He got what he came for." Said Rapunzel grimly as she approached her small family, "If he comes back I'll snap his neck."

"Okay tough girl." Belle scoffed, patting Rapunzel's arm, "We need to figure this out using our heads not our muscles." Rapunzel crossed her arms and gave a small huff and frustration.

"Come on, Elsa." Anna cooed to the sobbing woman, "Let's get you inside, okay?"

"Mmph." Elsa mumbled as Anna guided her inside.

Rapunzel's heart broke as Elsa stood tall and stopped just before she walked inside. Anna squeezed Elsa's hand tightly. Then the woman took a deep, shaking breath, turned around and said with a small smile, "Bring him home to me."

The detective nodded and bit her tongue sharply to try and keep tears from rolling down her cheeks. Anna lead Elsa back into the house and shut the door behind her, disappearing into the manor. Then there was a moment of tense silence in which Belle looked at Rapunzel and the detective lowered her head, remaining silent. The medical examiner was terrified of the fact that they might not find the boy in time, but if she knew Rapunzel at all, she wouldn't rest until he was found...dead or alive.

"Let's get a move on!" Rapunzel yelled to everyone, "We've got a limited amount of time before the boy is killed and placed somewhere. We need to double our efforts. Go to get more search warrants on the victims apartments. We need to move, move, MOVE!"

"Rapunzel…" Belle said, placing a hand on the detective's shoulder.

"I know what you're going to say." Rapunzel said immediately, whirling around to glare at the doctor, "I know you're going to say calm down, go at this the tactical way. Think before you do anything and take it slow. Well, Belle, there's no time to take it slow. My cousin's love of her life just had her freaking brother taken right out of her life and there's an impending threat that this child will be killed on the account of that stupid, fucking idiot!" she pointed at Kristoff who had been sitting in a police car for the past ten minutes, hanging his head, "That motherfucker will have caused another innocent life to be taken."

There was a darkness in Rapunzel's eyes that Belle found slightly terrifying, but at the same time slightly attractive.

"But...I'm not going to let another person die."

Inside the manor, Anna, with tons of effort on her part, helped Elsa up the stairs and through the hallway to their bedroom. Elsa stumbled inside and Anna shut the door behind her wincing as she heard Elsa collapse in her bed, burying her face into her pillow, laying halfway off.

"I should be out there." She said through her tears, "I need to be out there looking for him."

"No you don't." Anna said, walking over and taking off Elsa's shoes and lifting her onto her bed, "Not until you're able to at least walk in a straight line. Punzy is the best cop on the force. She'll find Olaf with no problem."

"I…I don't know what I'm going to do if I lose him."

"You won't!"

"Look, Anna, those cops that you call so wonderful and great and trustworthy, haven't found this murderer and he's killed nearly five people so far. What makes you think that they will find him this time? What makes this time any different from all the others?" Elsa cried.

"Because Rapunzel loves you and she loves Olaf." Anna said comfortingly, helping Elsa out of her shirt and into her sports bra to keep her cool, "She's got motive now more than ever. She's going to use force now much more than she did before. She can issue warrants. She can get into people's homes to investigate. She WILL find him."

"I…" Elsa muttered as Anna laid her back against the pillow comfortably, stroking her cheek with the back of her hand, "I…"

"Hush." Anna leaned down and kissed Elsa's lips lovingly, "Everything will be alright. You'll see."

Elsa's eyes half closed as she relaxed finally, giving out under the weight of her grief, and Anna kissed her face a few times before whispering, "Sleep."

And the barista's head lolled to the side, her body stilling underneath Anna's hands. The redhead pushed up her glasses and laid down beside Elsa, pulling up her unfinished book, determined to be a good guardian as long as she needed to be.

Belle and Rapunzel had started toward their car to get back to the police station, but before they could get in, there came a voice from the street calling, "Hey! Hey, y'all!"

Belle and Rapunzel looking around for a few moments in confusion before they saw a man wearing a smudged pair of ripped jeans and an old baggy t-shirt covered in paint splatters and mud approaching. He had a head of red hair and sideburns on the sides of his cheeks.

"Have you two seen Elsa?" the man asked in a southern drawl, "She was suppose' to come into work today."

Rapunzel and Belle both stopped what they were doing and focused on the man who stood on the street, his hands in his pockets and his eye brows raised inquisitively. The two stared at him until he said, "Well alrighty then! Just stare all ya want, ladies. I jus' came by to see if there was anythin' wrong with little old Elsie, but, Maybe there's nothin' that bad goin' on."

"How do you know Elsa?" Rapunzel began immediately, sparing no time in her investigation.

"She works for me and my dad at the farm." said the man, "Well! I gotta be goin'! Sorry I couldn't give ya ladies more information! But uh...I got some important business to take care of."

As Rapunzel and Belle watched the famer walk away, they turned to look at each other curiously.

"...We're going to see him later." Rapunzel said.

* * *

Olaf's wrists were bound painfully tight to the arms of a chair, his head covered by a black garbage bag. The room was completely silent and dusty and all he could hear was the dripping of water from a crack in the ceiling and the vigorous pounding of his heart. It had been racing unbelievably fast ever since he had been taken. The only thing on his mind as he sat there in silence was Elsa. He wanted Elsa more than anything in the world. He wanted his sister to come out of nowhere and pick him up and hug him close like he loved her to do. He wanted his sister to say 'everything is alright' and to hold him close to her chest...The boy whimpered softly and the sound echoed throughout the empty room.

When he had been ripped from the house and taken to the hummer, once he had been thrown inside so hard his head hit the door on the other side, he had screamed out for Elsa right before the man had slammed the door of the hummer so hard the top right corner of the window cracked and nearly shattered. Olaf scrambled back against the other side of the door and kept silent as the hooded man ran to the other side of the car and jumped inside, flooring the gas pedal and sending Olaf forcefully back against the seat. The boy had gotten to his knees to look out the back of the car to see Kristoff and his sister running after him.

"ELSA!" he screamed.

"Shut up!" roared the man in the front, "You will SHUT UP, or I'll cut out your tongue!"

And so Olaf did. He crouched himself into the smallest corner of the back seat and sobbed silently, hugging his knees and hiding his head. He had been thrown into the car so hard his shoulder, where he had landed, hurt more than anything, and the tone in the man's voice was full of absolute hatred. It was a deep, dark sounding voice that cut through Olaf's ears and made him afraid for his life.

He was being kidnapped by a murderer. And as he realized this, the panic slowly set in.

The man sat in still silence for about ten minutes before he stopped the car and got out, wrenching open the door beside Olaf and tearing the boy out of the car with jarring force. He threw the young man on the ground where Olaf, in efforts to break his fall, put out his hands and cut them on the gravel. He received a sharp kick to the side and then was told roughly to stand up. He began to stand to his feet, hot tears spilling from his eyes.

"Useless pile of shit." The man growled, grabbing Olaf's arm and dragging him to the building. Olaf blinked his tear blurred eyes and took in as much as he could before he was pulled inside and dragged down a set of stairs into a dark, dank basement. There was a conjoining room next to it and inside there was a room where there was a dirty blood stained floor with a chair sitting in the middle of it all. Once Olaf saw the blood about the room his eyes widened and his head craned back as he saw the arterial spray of a victim the man had killed earlier.

Olaf was forced into the chair and the hooded man tied him down as Olaf pled to be let free. The man didn't respond to Olaf's desperate cries and simply tied his arms and legs to a chair with zip ties that cut painfully into Olaf's wrists, and then thrust a black plastic bag over his head, telling him to be very quiet in a quiet voice that terrified the boy. The man pressed his hand against Olaf's chest for a long moment, satisfying himself with the rapid panicked breathing of his captor...then he stood and left without a word, slamming the door to the room behind him and locking it.

When Olaf was sure the man had left, he struggled violently with the binds, realizing that they were zip ties and technically impossible to break, and every time he breathed, the bag would move as he sucked in air. Slowly he realized He was being suffocated.

"E-elsa…" Olaf whimpered, "Elsaaa…" he struggled with the binds, "Elsie" he fell limp in the chair, calling her the nickname he loved to say but knew she hated, "…sissy…" in his fear, he began to call her the name he used to call her as a child when he was still learning to speak. As minutes passed, he resorted to holding his breath for as long as he could and taking small gasps of air. He shut his eyes and tried to calm himself down…but all the while he was listening intensely for the man to come back down those rickety stairs...

"E-ELSAAAA!"

* * *

"Alright so, so far we've got no traces." said Rapunzel, looking at the wall of the victim's pictures she had set up by her workstation, "There's absolutely no one suspicious that any of the victims are related to. This is nothing but a case of a person random killing here and there, and suddenly, BOOM they start getting closer to me and my little future nephew is taken away."

"I can't help but think these murders are caused by someone around you." Belle said, "That weird ass farmer Hanz is a prime suspect. He knows Elsa, he knows Olaf..."

"Yeah you guys told me about him." Kai said, "I did a small background check on him. He's living along with his father about, in estimation, ten to fifteen minutes from Elsa's house in the woods."

"You're absolutely right." Rapunzel said, nodding her head and rubbing her cheek, "We need to go and check him out."

"Rapunzel!" said a familiar voice.

Rapunzel, Belle, and Kai all turned to see Eugene standing in the doorway of the police station.

"Flynn?" Belle and Rapunzel asked at the same time, Belle with acid in her tone and Rapunzel with complete curiosity.

"I came as soon as I heard." the man said, approaching the two women and wrapping his arms around Rapunzel's shoulders, pulling her in for a tight hug, "I'm so sorry, Punzy."

The detective stared at Belle over Eugene's shoulder with wide eyes and the medical examiner crossed her arms and tapped her foot, glaring menacingly at the man who had barged in unannounced and hugged her girlfriend.

"Mm-hmm." Rapunzel said, awkwardly backing out of the hug and placing her hands on his chest, "Yeah. Yes. Wonderful. Your pity isn't taken for granted I assure you, but we have a big case on our hands and we don't really need any more distractions. N-not to seem rude or anything."

"No it's no problem, I understand!" Eugene said, "Well...as long as I'm here, could I help you guys out with anything?"

"You could go and get us some coffee." Belle said. Eugene looked at Belle for a moment and the two held an intense glare at each other, both on edge around the other due to their equal share of love towards Rapunzel.

"AHEM!" Rapunzel coughed awkwardly, patting Eugene's chest and walking over to Belle, putting her arm around her shoulder, "YES! Uhm…coffee sounds great! Uhhh…I'll have black."

"I'll have a small latte." Said Kai.

"And I'll have a white chocolate mocha with WHIPPED…cream." Belle said with a hint of hostility on her voice. Kai almost cracked up but Rapunzel kicked him in the shin then glared at Belle who ignored her and continued to hold the man's gaze, wordlessly telling him Rapunzel was hers and that he would do well to back off.

Eugene couldn't hold the gaze of the feisty medical examiner for long before he practically fled the room.

"As soon as he gets back, we'll go and further question that Hanz guy." Rapunzel said, "But for now, we need to go and get this questioning with that blonde idiot over with."

"He's about as bright as a stump that guy." Kai said, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "We're in for a long day, we might as well start with him."

"Alright." Rapunzel said, clapping her hands together, "Let's go crack this guy."

Downstairs in the questioning room of the police department, Kristoff sat twiddling his thumbs, his heart racing in a slight panic. There were so many things he had done in the past…so many thing he could get arrested for that the police didn't know about. The despicable thing about Kristoff in that exact moment in time was that he was thinking about all the other reasons why he should be arrested, and not the least bit concerned about Olaf.

He jumped when Rapunzel opened the door and stepped inside with Kai behind her, holding a file, flipping through the pages slowly. Kristoff swallowed deeply as Rapunzel sat down on the table, crossing her arms and nodding at the assistants outside the door to give them privacy. As the door was pulled shut and Kristoff was alone with Rapunzel and Kai, the detective crossed her arms, staring down at the floor and said, "Read his background file."

"Larceny, verbal harassment to many cops, attempted auto theft, breaking and entering, illegally selling products on the streets, drug dealing, weapon concealing, and multiple cases of physically abusing innocents in many different clubs and bars around town in multiple occasions."

"…looks like you've gotten yourself into a lot of shit." Rapunzel said in a voice so dangerously close to snapping Kristoff remained perfectly still as if any movement would set the woman off, "But this is your biggest fuck up out of them all without a doubt. I've talked to a lot of drug dealers, abusive people, and general slum in here, but never before have I spoken to such a self-conceited FUCK FACE LIKE YOU!"

Kristoff sat back in his chair as Rapunzel yelled and turned her head to glare at him with eyes so full of hatred and dark rage they pierced straight into his own, making his heart hammer.

"You're most likely more concerned about yourself than for your little cousin you let get kidnapped by a serial killer and torturer…aren't you?" Rapunzel said acidly, "Do you have any sympathy for that boy?"

"I do."

"YOU DON'T!" Rapunzel screamed, "If you had once OUNCE of pity for him or for Elsa you would be on your knees begging for forgiveness instead of sitting in that chair thinking about what you're going to get arrested for. You let an eight year old child get taken away from the only family he's ever known…And all you care about is yourself."

"Look I never-"

"Save it, you fuck." Rapunzel spat.

"Kristoff Bjorman, you're under arrest for Larceny and drug dealing on the streets." Kai said, "And don't think we can't find your little thug group and put an end to their dealings."

Kristoff was so scared, he could barely think. But he knew he should keep his mouth shut. If he said anything at all, he was afraid Rapunzel would lash out on him physically instead of verbally. He wanted to reply with something negative in reply, but this time he knew he wouldn't get anywhere. He was trapped in a room with a woman he was terrified of. The best thing he could do was to be silent and try not to get smacked around.

"Now, tell me." The brunette said, standing to her feet and circling the chair, "Tell me what the intruder looked like."

"Tall." Kristoff muttered, "He was wearing all black. What I could see of him was a hood concealing his face. I couldn't see him."

"What did his getaway car look like?"

"It was a black hummer."

"Could you see the license plate?"

"No."

"His hair color?'

"His head was covered by a hood." Kristoff said, "I don't know much else."

Rapunzel stared at him hard for a very long time, feeling the hatred bubbling inside of her…she wanted to slap him. She wanted to slap that look right off of his face. She wanted to make him pay for what he had done to her family...

"You're lucky you're spending the night in a cell." Rapunzel said, menacingly, nodding to her partner, "We're done here, Kai." she knocked on the door twice and the assistants outside pulled open the door, allowing them out. Before they were out of Kristoff's sight, Rapunzel turned and said, "Make sure he doesn't get food for a day when you put him under lockdown."

"Yes ma'am." an assistant said.

"That's not fair!" Kristoff shouted, "You're abusing your power!"

"Two days." Rapunzel added, "Two days without food."

Kristoff remained silent.

"Take him away."

* * *

"Hey." Came Anna's soft voice. Elsa felt a gentle kiss on her cheek, the cheek of another brushing against hers. She blinked blurrily, looking up at her girlfriend who reached down lovingly and brushed some hair out of her face, "I brought you some lunch."

Elsa looked at the peaceful sight of Anna's face hovering over her own. In the peace of her quiet room and the company of the redhead, she sighed deeply and reached up to take Anna's face in her hands.

"Anna." She said.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I just want you to know that."

Anna bit her lip and set the bowl of soup she held in her hand down on the nightstand beside them. Elsa began to cry involuntarily, the tears just simply spilling out without warning. Elsa face didn't even screw up like it did when she cried, the tears simply came out of nowhere. Anna wiped away every single one that fell from her lovers eyes and cried with her. In the few moments of silence the two women spent with each other, they both saw equal pain in the other's eyes. Elsa slowly sat up with a lot of effort with Anna helping her. Elsa reached up and rubbed her sore eye, blinking a few times, then finally letting her shoulders relax.

"I've got to go after him."

"You don't know where he went, Elsa." Anna said, "For now you need to stay here and just rest and trust that Rapunzel is doing all she can to find him. Tomorrow, we're going to the station to help her."

Elsa looked at Anna incredulously, and, seeing the concern in her eyes, realizing that Anna was insistent on making her stay exactly where she was, she relaxed herself even more and reached over the the side table where Anna had placed her soup.

"I have no idea how worried you must be." Anna said, watching Elsa as she blew on the steaming soup.

"Yeah." Elsa said, taking the spoon in her hand and dipping it into the bowl, taking a sip of the broth, "I…I raised him like he was my own son. He IS my son."

"I know." Anna said softly, resting her hand on Elsa's leg, "We'll find him."

"What if we don't?"

"Don't talk like that." Anna replied instantly, hopping up on the bed beside Elsa, "We can't focus on the negativites of this situation."

"You're right." Elsa said, "You're right I'm just…this is so huge-"

"I know. I understand, Elsa." Anna said, "but you need to eat, and get rest."

"Okay." Said the blonde, "Alright."

As Elsa ate her soup in stilled silence, Anna sighed dramatically and laid over Elsa's lap.

"What are you doing, freckles?"

"Being distracting." She said as she lifted her shirt over her head. Elsa turned a dark shade of red as she realized that Anna hadn't been wearing a bra at all that day. She, with effort, ignored her and ate her soup.

"Is it working?" Anna asked in a flirtatious tone that made Elsa shiver ever so slightly.

"Maybe." Elsa muttered into the bowl, "This is hardly the time to be doing things like this."

"Be that as it may, I'm still trying." Anna said, sitting up and resting her head on Elsa's shoulder, "You feeling better, cutie?"

"Slightly."

"I can tell. You got some color back to your face."

"Well that's an upside." Elsa said with a small smile. Then she leaned down and kissed Anna's freckled nose and said, "You're cute."

"No, you're cute." Anna giggled.

"I'm a mess."

"For a good reason." Anna said, sitting up and placing her hand on Elsa's cheek, turning her head towards her, "But you're still cute."

Elsa made a small hum of pleasure and leaned forward, kissing Anna gently on the lips before going back to her soup bowl. Anna smiled and rested her head down in Elsa's lap, enjoying her company, and the fact she was able to get Elsa back somewhat from that state of depression. She was beginning to come down from her panic and that soothed the both of them.

Anna's smile faded once she remembered Olaf and she shut her eyes, praying that he would somehow be alright by the end of all this.

* * *

Rapunzel and Belle rolled up to the farmer's house and sat in the car for a few minutes, both women hesitation to get out.

"You ready?" Belle asked the detective.

"As I'll ever be." she replied.

The detective got out of the car and quickly ran to the other side to help the doctor out. And as soon as they were both standing there came a call from the house, "Oh well isn't it the nice ladies from b'fore! Howdy!" Hans, who carried a large bucket of unidentifiable substances, greeted the detective and her partner as they approached him, "I was jus' on my way to feed the pigs! Y'know how much 'em buggers like to eat!"

"Let's cut to the case, son." Rapunzel said, crossing her arms, "Elsa worked here for about a month for a day job right?"

"Yessiree!" Hans replied, "Close to two months. She came 'bout almost every Wednesday to help me and my pa around the farm."

"Did you have any disagreements with Elsa at all?"

"Nah! She's the sweetest little thing! Working as hard as she could to try and lift them hay bales to feed the horses most of the time."

"How about your father?" Belle asked quickly, "What relation did he have with Elsa?"

"Nothing important." Hans continued, "He was jus' her employer is all. Yeup. My old man hired her 'cause of her mission to get her girlfriend them fancy ear doohickey things."

Belle glanced at Rapunzel and cracked a small smile, but her smile faded once Rapunzel continued to question Hans about the kidnapping, not giving Anna so much as a smirk. Once he was told that Elsa's brother had been taken, he began to panic. Rapunzel thought that it was almost an overreaction. Rapunzel's eyes narrowed slightly as the man kept rambling on and on about how horrible the situation was and how awful and unexpected this whole thing was and how worried Elsa must be…

"…We'll come by soon." Rapunzel said, cutting Hans off rudely and staring for a moment longer, the man stopped panicking and stood straight facing the detective…

"I didn't steal the boy…if that's what you're going after." he said, narrowing his eyes

Belle looked nervously from Rapunzel to Hanz.

"Hey!" called a voice from behind Rapunzel and Belle, "Hey! I brought you your coffee!"

"Oh! Eugene." Rapunzel said in surprise, turning to face her friend, "Thanks so much for this, dude! I forgot to wait for you at the station! I'm such an idiot! I owe you one."

"Nice. Next time we go somewhere, you have to buy me a cup of coffee and a doughnut."

"Fair enough." Elsa smiled. Eugene turned his head slowly to look at Belle who was glaring at him with dark blue eyes. The man held out her cup of coffee and waited for her to take it. Belle, staring at him for a few more minutes, lifted her hand to take the cup from him, then muttered, "Thanks."

"You're welcome, doctor." Eugene said with one last look at her before turning back to Rapunzel and smiling softly, "Now, I'm off. You're gonna be okay?"

"Flynn." Rapunzel laughed softly, "I've been doing this job for almost three years now, I'm going to be fine. Thanks for worrying though. You're sweet."

"I try." He said, then he smiled smugly and tapped his cheek. Rapunzel scoffed, rolled her eyes and leaned forward placing a soft kiss on his cheek. Belle bristled at this and squeezed her coffee cup so hard the lid popped off slightly and she slammed her hand down atop the drink to keep it from spilling. Rapunzel, backing away from her friend and standing up straight, taking a sip of her coffee nonchalantly said, "Relax, stupid, he's just an old friend."

"How come I've never heard of him before?" Belle asked accusingly.

"I'll explain to you later how we met and everything but for now, all you need to know is that he's a friend. I like him as a friend, he's cool, we're all cool here. No one dislikes anybody."

Belle looked incredulously at Rapunzel for a moment, then snorted when Rapunzel cast a look at Eugene and said, "Pardon my girlfriend she's a bit high strung."

"ME?!" Belle laughed aloud, "ME?! High strung? If anyone's high strung around here it's-"

"Well that's enough socializing for today!" Rapunzel said, grabbing Belle's arm and forcing her towards the car, "Thanks again for the coffee dude! I'll text you later."

"Sure thing!" Eugene called, waving after her.

Hanz stood behind them all, ultimately confused and completely infuriated by the lack of clarity to the situation he had been forced into. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at the two women as they drove away, Eugene hopping into his red truck and leaving as well, driving after them both. He sighed huffily, then went on to bring the pigs their dinner.

"Okay so I'm 50% sure that guy did it." Rapunzel said.

"We have absolutely no evidence against him, Punzy, how on earth are you so sure about him?"

"I just have a feeling in my gut."

"Well you can take you and your gut and find yourself another girlfriend." Belle said, crossing her arms and turning to look out the window, "Or BOYFRIEND."  
"Oh come on!" Rapunzel sighed in exasperation, "I thought when I got together with you that I wouldn't have to worry about this sort of thing."

"You're right." Belle said, "I'm just being stupid…but I get jealous okay? I'd just like to know about relationships you have with someone else that you're perfectly okay with kissing them."

"I didn't KISS him!" Rapunzel replied, "I kissed his cheek!"

"A little to the left and it would've been his lips."

"OH MY GOD."

"WHAT?!"

"You know what, you butt!" Rapunzel said, slapping the steering wheel, "He's a FRIEND. I met him a couple years ago at college. We hit it off. We've ALWAYS been friends."

"Just friends."

"Exactly."

Both Belle and Rapunzel fell into silence and sighed simultaneously. Belle stole occasional glances at her girlfriend from the corner of her eye. Rapunzel ignored her and began her thinking and pondering again. She knew that the farmer's son was a bit strange by how overemotionally he reacted to finding out that Elsa's brother had been taken, but there was also the fact that Elsa thought he was the biggest puts she had ever seen in her life when it came to simple conversation, he doubted whether or not he was capable of pulling off about five different murders without leaving a trace.

Belle rolled down the window and rested her arm on the side of the car and then simply took a deep breath and looked up at the sky…

"Belle." Rapunzel said, "What do you think?"

"I think that it's not him." She said.

"Think it's his father?"

"Rapunzel, they're just simple farmers." Belle said.

"Don't underestimate these men." Rapunzel said immediately, "Even the most innocent person could turn out to be something you don't expect."

"And this is why YOU'RE the detective and I'm the medical examiner." Belle said smiling at her girlfriend. She reached over and placed her hand on Rapunzel's, taking it from the steering wheel and placing it on the place in between the seats. She played with Elsa's fingers and smiled comfortingly.

"You okay?" she asked.

"No." Rapunzel replied with a large sigh, letting it out slowly and half closing her eyes, keeping them locked on the street in front of them, "My nephew is in the hands of a murderer."

"You keep calling him your nephew." Belle said, sitting forward in her seat slightly, "…Why?"

"Elsa and Anna are like my sisters." Rapunzel blurted, "And…believe it or not, Olaf is like my-"

"I get it." Belle said, lifting Rapunzel's hand to kiss the back of it softly, "We all love that little guy."

Belle, when she lifted her head, saw Rapunzel's eyes burning with determination. Belle had seen Rapunzel crack many tough cases. She had seen the detective at her worst, completely stumped by a case, ready to give up…but she had never seen the fire in Rapunzel's eyes before then.

She need not say anything Elsa to Rapunzel. She knew no words of comfort would be enough to sooth her. And so she kept silent, but in her heart she wanted to hold Rapunzel and tell her everything would be alright…but how could she do that when she wasn't completely certain they would be?

* * *

Olaf had been finding it harder to breath for the past few minutes and had been slipping into a state of panic. He wondered if the man would ever come back…He wondered if the man would just wait for a few days and let him suffocate…

Just when Olaf was beginning to get lightheaded, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, heavy and thumping against the floor. Olaf's eyes opened wide, flitting from side to side in silent desperation. He jumped in terror as the door was shoved open and in came the murderer. Olaf resisted pleading the man to take the bag off of his head so he could breathe, but he didn't want to risk being hurt worse.

"Hard to breath?" asked a dark voice.

"Yes, sir." Olaf responded as calmly as he could.

"Sir." The man scoffed, "SIR!" the man walked over to Olaf and ripped the bag forcefully from Olaf's head and he automatically gasped in huge lungful's of heavy, wet air, rank with the smell of blood. A hand clamped around Olaf's throat causing the boy to gag. And his eyes were forced to look in a general direction where they bored into the cold eyes of the murderer. Olaf's eyes widened as he saw the man's face. He seemed so familiar…like he had seen him somewhere before. Panic rendered Olaf's mind blank.

"You mock me by calling me sir, boy." Said the man roughly, letting go of Olaf's neck and turning his back to him, "You're lucky you're still alive. Most people only survive for a few hours with that bag on their head."

Olaf remained silent.

"Normally, you would be begging me to let you go." said the man in a low voice that sounded as if he were going to shout.

"I don't want you to hurt me." Olaf said, voice shaking.

"That's funny." Said the man, "Very funny. You are aware that there is blood all over this room. Many others have died in the chair you are sitting in? Their blood is all over this room. Aren't you afraid to die?"

"Yes." Olaf said, "But I'm more afraid for my sister."

"What?" the murderer asked, turning around and pulling out a knife from his belt, "What did you say?"

"I'm more afraid for my sister because if I die…" Olaf began to cry, "She won't have anyone else in her family to look after her."

The murderer placed the knife to the boys neck and Olaf shut his eyes, clenching his jaw tightly.

"LOOK AT ME!" the murderer roared in a voice so loud it sent Olaf's body shivering

The boy looked into the man's eyes and let out a strangled grunt of pain as the man pressed the knife into Olaf's neck so hard it cut his skin just enough for blood to begin spilling down his neck, soaking into his shirt.

"Well…your sister is going to be without a little baby brother very…very soon."


End file.
